LAWMAKERS CALL ON MAYOR TO PREVENT
OPENING OF MEN’S SHELTER IN BRIARWOOD
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
Two Queens lawmakers
are calling on Mayor Bill de
Blasio to abandon the city’s
plans to place a 175-bed men’s
“barracks-type” shelter in
Briarwood in 2022 that has
received pushback from
residents in the community.
Councilman James Gennaro
and Senator Leroy Comrie
sent a letter to de Blasio
slamming the proposed site
at 138-50 Queens Blvd., citing
a host of reasons ranging
from its close proximity to a
school and children’s playground
to its economic impact
on local business owners and
homeowners.
“This is a very different
shelter plan than the existing
Briarwood shelter for
families, which has housed
the homeless for many years
without incident under the
strict and watchful eyes of
the service provider, the Salvation
Army,” Gennaro and
Comrie said in the letter. “It
is clear that Briarwood is not
opposed to homeless shelters
and that this community is already
doing its part in ‘Turning
the Tide’ on homelessness
— but the proposed Queens
Boulevard location is entirely
inappropriate.”
In January, Gennaro rallied
alongside residents outside
of the proposed site saying the
shelter will effectively “kill the
potential of new development
and vaporize untold millions
in commercial and residential
property values.”
An online petition was also
launched to stop the homeless
shelter.
According to DHS, the
Briarwood location will offer
those individuals the opportunity
to be sheltered in their
home borough, closer to their
support networks, including
schools, jobs, health care, family,
social services and communities
they call home.
Westhab, a housing and
social services provider, will
supply those resources to the
shelter, where 30 to 40 percent
of the residents would be mentally
ill and/or drug users.
They will have the option of
utilizing those services. It’s an
initiative under Mayor Bill de
Blasio’s “Turning the Tide on
Residents held a protest on Jan. 4 outside of the proposed site of the shelter at 138-50 Queens Blvd. Courtesy of James Gennaro
Homelessness” plan to end the
use of stop-gap measures like
cluster sites and commercial
hotel facilities citywide.
In a statement to QNS, DHS
said their plan for transforming
the city’s shelter system
is “committed to ensuring
that, over time, shelters are
distributed equitably to meet
the need in all five boroughs,
including in communities like
this, that do not have any DHS
shelter of this kind (serving
single adult New Yorkers).”
“This borough-based shelter
andour borough-based
approach are focused on ensuring
that these lifeline services
are equitably distributed
across all five boroughs
so we can give our neighbors
experiencing homelessness
the chance to stabilize their
lives closer to the communities
they last called home,” a
DHS spokesperson said.
According to Gennaro and
Comrie, the proposed site for
the Briarwood men’s shelter
is across the street from the
Hoover-Manton children’s
playground, Archbishop
TIMESLEDGER | Q 2 NS.COM | JUNE 25-JULY 1, 2021
Molloy High School and the
Briarwood Public Library.
Citing a “clear and present
danger” to the youth,
especially since shelter residents
are not required to avail
themselves of any treatment,
Gennaro and Comrie said that
placing “this type of shelter
within such close proximity
to hundreds of children is
grossly irresponsible and dangerous.”
Gennaro and Comrie also
expressed concerns that the
proposed location would be
harmful to the individuals
the city seeks to help, since it
is just one block away from a
liquor store and adjacent to a
marijuana dispensary.
According to the lawmakers,
it will “inevitably — and
unnecessarily — pose challenges
to shelter residents who
genuinely wish to turn their
lives around.”
Gennaro, Comrie, and
the Briarwood community
went to great lengths several
years ago to rezone to allow
for mixed-use development
to attract development and
investment. The elected officials
said the benefits of
those economic revitalization
efforts “were beginning to be
substantially realized, but are
now paralyzed by the mere
specter of this shelter.”
“This represents an unconscionable
taking from the
homeowners who have spent
a lifetime to build a home equity
nest egg,” Comrie and
Gennaro said. “And no matter
how noble the intentions of the
‘Turning the Tide’ initiative,
no facility justifies the peril
to public safety and the economic
devastation that would
be visited on the Briarwood
community by this proposed
shelter.”
Gennaro and Comrie concluded
their letter by requesting
that de Blasio find an
alternate location that would
much better serve both the
community as well as the
shelter residents. They also
criticized the city Department
of Homeless Services (DHS)
for the “arrogant, patronizing
and dismissive” way the
agency has treated elected and
community leaders.
In response, DHS said the
borough of Queens and New
Yorkers from the area who fall
on hard times deserve access
to the types of high-quality
services and support that can
help restabilize their lives
with dignity.
“We remain committed to
ensuring that Queens communities
have the critical
safety net resources they need
to support those who may fall
on hard times, right here in
the community, so they can
get back on their feet closer
to their support networks,”
a DHS spokesperson said.
“Working together with neighbors
and not-for-profit service
provider Westhab, we’re confident
that these New Yorkers
will be warmly welcomed
— and through collaborative
support and compassion, we
will make this the best experience
it can be for all.”
Reach reporter Carlotta
Mohamed by e-mail at cmohamed@
schnepsmedia.com or
by phone at (718) 260–4526.
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