Under new management
Contested Brighton Beach shelter changes service provider
BY ROSE ADAMS
The owners of a Brighton
Beach lot that will soon house
a men’s homeless shelter have
chosen a different service provider
to run the facility, offi -
cials confi rmed.
CORE, a social services organization
that operates more
than a dozen shelters across
the city, is no longer involved
in the 170-bed men’s shelter
planned to open at 100 Neptune
Ave., a representative for
the Department of Homeless
Services said Thursday.
“When DSS-DHS approves
a proposal for shelter, the only
result we will accept is a fi nished
product that is ready for
occupancy, operated by a qualifi
ed not-for-profi t providerpartner,
offering the high-quality
services and supports that
our clients need and deserve
to help them get back on their
feet,” said spokeswoman Neha
Sharma in a statement. “To
that end, property owners have
the discretion to decide which
provider they’d like to partner
with at a given location, and in
6 COURIER LIFE, APRIL 2-8, 2021
this case they’ve opted to work
with a different provider.”
Sharma did not say who
the new service provider is or
what prompted the change. The
property owners, Sor-San Realty
Corp., could not be reached
for comment, and a representative
for CORE confi rmed the
change, but did not immediately
say what prompted it.
The announcement comes
amid a months-long battle
against the shelter waged by
community members and local
leaders, who argue, largely
without evidence, that the facility
will decrease property
values, increase crime, and insuffi
ciently support its homeless
residents. Many critics
site CORE’s history of building
violations: in 2019, the
service provider had nearly
300 open violations across its
40 facilities, but following the
closure of its controversial
“cluster sites,” the number of
violations dropped to 60.
Opponents of the incoming
shelter have also claimed,
largely without evidence, that
CORE kicks out its residents
during the day and that the
provider boards more than
a dozen people in one room
— two rumors that DHS and
CORE representatives have vehemently
denied. Residents are
allowed to stay on the premises
during the day, and are given
individualized schedules with
job training and counseling,
they said. As a “congregate
shelter,” residents share bathrooms
and other utilities, but
each have their own room.
The proposed shelter is
part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s
“Turning the Tide” initiative,
which seeks to open 90
shelters in every community
across the city in an effort to
spread the homeless shelter
capacity evenly, rather than
clustering unhoused people in
poor neighborhoods, as other
administrations have done.
The incoming shelter would
be the fi rst traditional men’s
shelter in Brooklyn’s Community
Board 13. The community
district houses just 0.2 percent
of New York City’s shelter beds,
despite representing 0.9 percent
of the city’s population,
according to data from 2019.
Nearby Community District
15, where many of the shelter’s
opponents are based, is home
to 0.4 percent of shelter beds despite
representing 1.69 percent
of the city’s population.
Area Councilmember Chaim
Deutsch has led the fi ght against
the coming facility, circulating
a petition arguing that the site
is located too close to schools,
and holding a protest calling on
the mayor to abandon his congregate
shelter plan and open
permanent housing instead.
“These congregate shelters
are not the solution ... for
homelessness,” said Deutsch,
who requested an environmental
study of the shelter site
after locals raised health concerns
about potential contamination
of the land.
DHS representatives have
agreed to complete the assessment
before proceeding with
the project. The results of the
study have not yet been released.
A new men’s homeless shelter is set to open at 100 Neptune Ave. in Brighton
Beach, sparking controversy. Google Maps