Indicted Mayor gives more millions to nepo non-profit homeless services provider for Glendale shelter

 

 NY Post

The city is planning to shell out $43 million to a politically-connected nonprofit, so it can continue running a notorious Queens homeless shelter that’s been bombarded for years by complaints of residents masturbating in public, using drugs and menacing neighbors, The Post has learned.

The 180-bed shelter for single men at 78-16 Cooper Avenue in Glendale has been the subject of 2,251 911 calls, 677 other emergency calls and 278 on-site arrests since Yonkers-based Westhab began operating it in January 2020 under a $60.1 million contract that expires June 30, according to data compiled by Councilman Robert Holden.

The moderate Queens Democratic fired off a letter to the Department of Homeless Services last week “strongly demand[ing]” it reject plans to extend the nonprofit’s deal through June 2028 and instead “permanently close” the Cooper Avenue Rapid Rehousing Center.

 “The failures at this shelter, compounded by Westhab’s ineptitude, have caused irreparable harm to Glendale and Middle Village residents and to the vulnerable individuals residing in the shelter,” he wrote.

The shelter’s second-floor bathroom has become a “notorious drug den” that Westhab “has taken no meaningful action’ to address, and local businesses claim shelter residents are driving away customers by loitering and aggressively panhandling.

“Children and parents have [also] been subjected to appalling incidents, including shelter clients masturbating in public” a few blocks away at Pinocchio Playground, the councilman wrote.

 

Poverty pimping sister act

  

NY Post

Providing shelter is a family affair at the city Department of Homeless Services.

The firm of Homeless Service Administrator Joslyn Carter’s sister has been awarded 17 contracts with the agency valued at a staggering $1.7 billion, according to data compiled by city Comptroller Brad Lander’s office.

Carter’s sister, Valerie Smith, is vice president of New York City Housing programs for Yonkers-based Westhab Inc., which runs homeless shelters in the city.

She has been a top administrator there since 2017.

Seventeen of the social services contracts were awarded by DHS, many in recent years with Smith working at the agency as the city grapples with a record homeless population fueled by a massive influx of migrants from the southern border.

Three others were awarded by the Department of Youth and Community Development and two by the Department of Education, totaling $4.7 million.

Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens) demanded an investigation by the Department of Investigation and Conflicts of Interest Board after hearing of the unusual sibling relationship involving the city homeless services honcho and a top contractor awarded business with the agency.

Holden griped numerous times about problems at a shelter for 180 single men run by Westhab on Cooper Avenue in Glendale in his district — including complaints of drug use, violence, masturbating in public and menacing neighbors — some of which were exposed in a CBS report last September.

He suspected something was amiss when he said he failed to get an adequate response from Westhab or the city homeless officials.

“The whole thing stinks to high heaven. Why is Westhab getting all this money?,” Holden said Sunday. “It looks like they have someone on the inside. They’re protected.”

“They’re not doing a good job at the shelter on Cooper Avenue. It’s a mess over there.”

In a Feb. 8 letter to DOI and COIB, Holden said, “I recently learned from a credible source that the Department of Homeless Services Administrator Joslyn Carter is the sister of Westhab’s Vice President of New York City Shelter Programs, Valerie Smith. I am concerned that immediate family members can work on the same contract despite a potential conflict of interest.”

He told the investigative and ethics agencies that there have been 1,500 calls to 911 for the shelter and 156 resident arrests.

“As you know, corruption and criminal acts often occur in the social service industry.

Just a typical day outside the Glendale shelter

We just gotta keep Steve Banks on payroll!

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