North Riverdale Businesses Are Told To Vacate Prompting Some Local Electeds To Seek Out Answers
North Riverdales apprehensions about a proposed homeless mens shelter at the corner of Broadway and West 262nd Street were reawakened this week.
First, the owners of the six businesses at the site received notices from the landlord that they will need to vacate by the end of the year. Then, community leaders briefed residents and the press about the lack of transparency in the citys homeless services procurement process related to the proposed shelter.
New business filings in May appear to link the shelter operator to an entity named 6661 Broadway Investors LLC. It is a sign that the citys proposed $195 million contract with African American Planning Commission Inc. may be progressing after a months-long lull.
AAPCI did not return a request for comment Tuesday on the status of their proposed contract or plans to purchase 6661 Broadway. City Comptroller Brad Lander has not yet received the contract for review and final approval, according to the comptrollers office.
Residents gathered Tuesday morning on a grassy slope of Van Cortlandt Park across the street from the proposed shelter for a briefing from Community Board 8 and local representatives Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz and City Councilman Eric Dinowitz. The father-son duo called on the city department of investigation commissioner Jocelyn Strauber to launch an official probe into the homeless services department, AAPCI, and its partner, Court Square Real Estate Partners.
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Nyc Opening New Homeless Shelter In The Bronx As Adams Administration Continues Encampment Crackdown
NEW YORK — As Mayor Eric Adams opened a new Safe Haven homeless shelter in the Bronx on Tuesday, he was defending his campaign to tear down the city’s nearly 200 homeless encampments.
CBS2’s Marcia Kramer has more on why the mayor is making allies of the homeless so upset.
Homeless advocates are furious with the mayor, saying taking down the encampments could push unsheltered New Yorkers further away from services. However, Adams says he’s simply not going to run a city that normalizes people living on the street, and, believe it or not, he’s readying a public relations campaign to take his case directly to those still living in the cold.
“I am just so amazed, Marcia, that we believe it’s dignified to allow people to live on the streets. That just shocks me,” Adams said. “We’re walking past people living in carboard boxes in these makeshift inhumane houses. This is just not right.”
The mayor said he has visited homeless encampments like one in Brooklyn being taken down on his orders, and is horrified by what he has seen.
“You should see the number of hypodermic needles on the ground, human waste,” Adams said.
Despite the outrage from those living in the encampments, the mayor is convinced he’s doing the right thing, even though the unsheltered do not agree.
“You’re kicking us while we’re already down. It’s a nightmare,” one person told CBS2’s Elijah Westbrook. “I’ve been in numerous shelter systems. There’s people bidding. It’s like they did in prison.”
- In:
St ‘safe Haven’ Facility Opens To Mixed Criticism Of Mayor Adams’ Approach To Homelessness
The Morris Avenue Safe Haven opened in the Bronx on Tuesday as part of Mayor Eric Adams’ goal to address the homeless crisis. Lucy Yang has the story.
THE BRONX — The Morris Avenue Safe Haven opened in the Bronx on Tuesday as part of Mayor Eric Adams’ goal to address the homeless crisis.
Each client will get their own bed, toiletries, and locker.
There is a laundry room, clean showers, and a dining room for free meals and snacks.
And there is a federally qualified health care center on site for medical, psychiatric, addiction and social services.
Officials claim this facility is a new approach to getting people off the streets.
Instead of just warehousing the vulnerable in shelters, this provides care with dignity.
“You can’t get this on the A train,” Adams said. “You can’t get this sleeping in Times Square. You can’t get this in a cardboard box. You don’t deserve that. You deserve this.”
At the ribbon cutting, the mayor proudly unveiled the brand new, 80 bed facility, located across the street from Lincoln Hospital.
There are future plans are to open 500 such beds across the city.
But the second part of Adams policy- dismantling homeless encampments, has come under fire.
The Coalition for the Homeless agrees the increase in shelter beds is a good thing, but calls the encampment sweeps “harmful.”
The city is also hoping mental treatment for this population will also reduce the violence that’s been raging in the city.
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No 140 Single Adult Men Shelter At 2028 White Plains Road/2040 Bronx Park East Bronx Ny
Brady Court consists of 295 families. We work diligently to build a strong, healthy, safe, prosperous community. We have been proactive in Covid relief efforts. Both an elementary school and a high school border Brady Court.
We see the need to provide housing options to the homeless. The proposed shelter is within a 3-block radius of Brady Court. We believe in transparency and inclusion and would have appreciated a Community Meeting regarding this shelter. We advocate for a greater impact and a gentler balance of our life culture. If we must have a shelter is such close proximity to our homes, schools and park, we respectfully demand a family shelter instead of a mens shelter at 2028 White Plains Road aka 2040 Bronx Park East.
Please join us to ask the NYC Dept of Homeless Services to change the location of a proposed Single Adult Men shelter for 140 men at 2028 White Plains Rd. The community does not want this shelter. The building is zoned as C8-1 Commercial Office Building, not as housing.
Community Board 11 was notified of this site on October 8, 2021, however, the community was not notified.
Please join us to make our community voice heard.
Thank you.
Jerome Avenue Mens Shelter
The Jerome Avenue Mens Shelter is committed to helping men achieve housing permanency by addressing barriers that stand in the way of this goal. JAMS is part of the NYC Department of Homeless Services shelter system and provides beds to 200 men with mental illness who are experiencing homelessness.
The site offers an array of social services, such as housing case management , programming to address mental health and substance abuse issues, meals, and activities. The site has an on-site clinic that can provide primary care and psychiatric services. Residents can remain at the shelter until placed into permanent housing, ideally within nine months of receiving services.
The Housing First Model is the idea that you provide a street homeless person with a place to live without assigning any qualifications, understanding that access to stable housing is essential to resolving many life issues.
Noel Concepcion, Department Director, Adult Homeless Services
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At Bronx Welcome Center Nyc Tests New Approach To Shelter For Street Homeless
The site opened to people moving off the streets and subways on March 28, amid significant backlash to ongoing homeless sweeps and calls by advocates and some elected officials for the city to use hotel rooms as low-barrier, private spaces for people bedding down outdoors.
Adi Talwar
The hotel is intended to serve as a sort of way station between the streets and other shelter settings. City officials say they plan to open similar sites elsewhere in the five boroughs.
Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
Mayor Eric Adams and other officials at a press conference about addressing street homelessness on March 30.
Three days later, on April 1, DHS held a conference call with street outreach providers to share broad strokes of the new welcome center initiative, according to two people familiar with the conversation.Three frontline outreach workers interviewed by City Limits over the past week said they did not know the new site existed.In response to questions from City Limits, DHS said 30 beds at the hotel were occupied last week and individuals must be referred there by an outreach team, meaning they cannot self check-in. A man walking away from the building on April 7 stopped to briefly talk with City Limits and said he had tried to secure a room in the building but was turned away.
City officials say they plan to open similar sites elsewhere in the five boroughs, but the welcome center designation has confused service groups and advocates.
Ny Gov Hochul Announces Opening Of First Cannabis Shop Owned By Person Impacted By War On Drugs
Zinger Key Points
- A major milestone as NY moves to fulfill its pledge to help social equity applicants and their families.
- The shop provides an opportunity to fast-track sales and build initial capital for licensee.
Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Thursday the opening of the first conditional adult-use cannabis dispensary in New York State owned by an entrepreneur who was previously criminalized by cannabis prohibition. The shop will launch on Jan. 24 in Manhattans Greenwich Village.
Supported by the New York Cannabis Social Equity Investment Fund, the shop opening is viewed as furthering New York’s goals of equity in cannabis licensing, which prioritizes individuals, or a close relative, with a prior cannabis conviction.
“This dispensary is the latest example of our efforts to build the most equitable and inclusive cannabis industry in the nation,”said Gov. Hochul, who in January pledged $200 million to support social equity applicants. “As we continue to work toward righting wrongs of the past, I look forward to new dispensaries – owned by those most impacted by the over-policing of cannabis prohibition – opening soon.”
“I am so excited to become a part of history as the first individual to open a legal cannabis dispensary in New York City. Given my experience with cannabis, I never could have imagined that I would be opening a store like this, said Conner, who will be opening the shop with his wife and son.
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No Room Or Rest For The Weary: Senior And Disabled Homeless Men In Murray Hill Subjected To Latest Street Sweep
Four unhoused men braving the cold on 35th Street and 1st Avenue in Murray Hill had already begun packing their belongings by the time a contingent representing the NYPD, Sanitation Department, and Department of Social Services arrived Wednesday morning to get them out of there.
Huddled in jackets, they told amNewYork Metro that they had mentally prepared for the sweep such is life on the streets amid the citys ongoing efforts to sweep away homeless encampments from the streets.
The most important issue for them was to ensure their necessary items were secure: hats, coats, identification cards, and food. According to Alex, one of the four homeless men taken up shelter under Sweetgreen and using cardboard boxes as a mattress, such things as hot meals or simple personal belongings are a luxury.
Earl Martin, a senior who has been living on the streets for six years, climbed out of his makeshift shelter to greet the arriving outreach worker. He was ready to accept placement, as long as that placement saw him secure in a single room away from the dangers of a congregate setting.
However, the DHS agent responded by only offering shared lodgings before swiftly moving on.
Without what Martin considered a safe place from both COVID-19 and strangers, he was left to gather his belongings, ditch what he couldnt carry, and move elsewhere.
I am tough, Kevin said of the cold.
The Shelter On White Plains Road Was To Be Run By Westhab In A Building Owned By David Levitan Once Identified By The City As One Of Its Worst Landlords
A mens shelter was proposed for a building on White Plains Road and Bronxdale Avenue.
Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
The citys Department of Homeless Services is dropping plans for a 140-bed single mens homeless shelter in Morris Park, officials informed Bronx neighbors last week making a rare break from a landlord whose building conditions and business practices have attracted scrutiny.
Leaders at Bronx Community Board 11 were informed of the decision in a letter from DHS First Deputy Commissioner Molly Park last Friday.
In reassessing our siting goals for Bronx Community Board District 11, we have decided to reconsider our proposed use of 2028 White Plains and will not be moving forward with this site, Park wrote in the letter addressed to board chairperson Albert DAngelo.
The reversal comes after months of opposition by the community board and a local task force and leaves the district as the only one remaining in the borough without a single homeless shelter.
At an in-person board meeting in February, more than 100 people signed up to discuss the proposed shelter with all but one person opposed to the shelter plan, according to Community Board 11 District Manager Jeremy Warneke.
I think this is a win for us, Warneke said in a phone interview on Tuesday.
Westhabs vice president of development, Maureen Natkin, declined to comment to THE CITY.
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Shelters For Every District
If DHS under the Adams administration decided to pull the plug on the project because of community opposition, it would mark a change from how the de Blasio administration approached shelter development.
In 2017, de Blasio proposed 90 new homeless shelters distributed across the city, replacing what had been a largely ad hoc system that included hotel rooms and converted apartment buildings. Key to his Turning the Tide plan: Each community district would have at least one shelter, with a goal of providing shelter for local residents who need it.
The Times found that Levitan, through several shell companies, owns nearly a third of the buildings where new shelters have opened since 2017. In all, he owns 14 of the 49 buildings where new shelters opened during de Blasios tenure. His homeless shelter work boomed even after he was named among the citys worst landlords in 2015 for housing code violations at a Bronx building.
Liberty One Construction, a Manhattan LLC listed under an address linked to Levitan, builds shelters with Westhab, public records show. Property records for 2028 White Plains Rd. list the owner as registered under the same Pine Street address as Liberty One.
A DHS spokesperson declined to answer questions about whether the reversal had anything to do with concerns about Levitans dealings or with community opposition.
A petition created by board member Yahay Obeid opposing the shelter plan has nearly 600 signatures.
Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
How It Works
If youre homeless or have a housing crisis, you can apply for shelter or get help to avoid shelter altogether.
- Homeless Intake Centers offer services to help you avoid homelessness and provide temporary shelter as a last resort. Once youre in shelter, youll need to:
- develop a plan to move into permanent housing
- apply for and maintain eligibility for Public Assistance
- find and stay in a job if you are able to work
- follow shelter rules
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