City ignores CB 12, plans for shelter
Despite Wakefi eld residents’ opposition
BY JASON COHEN
Wakefi eld residents felt that the
city has ignored their opposition to
homeless shelters, following the placement
of another facility in the heart of
their neighborhood.
But it seems that those on the Upper
West Side and Hell’s Kitchen
had better luck getting the mayor’s
attention on the matter.
After numerous complaints from
Manhattan residents, Mayor Bill de
Blasio announced last week that the
city will begin moving homeless people
out of hotels in the Big Apple.
In May, the Department of Homeless
Services (DHS) opened a temporary
shelter housing 150 men in a
92-room hotel at 4747 Bronx Blvd. However,
DHS reneged on a promise to not
turn that location into a homeless shelter,
without so much as an email to
local stakeholders.
“I think this mayor truly wanted
to be the guy that solves the homeless
crisis,” Community Board 12 District
Manager George Torres stressed. “In
wanting to be the guy, he started a
problem DHS could not solve. I think
they’re trying to fi x something and
they’re really throwing good money
after bad.”
Elected offi cials, CB 12 residents
and board members not only expressed
issues with the high amount of shelters
in the area, but also the fact that
this shelter was supposed to be temporary
and it is still there with no date
announced for when it will close.
Furthermore, residents shared
that many of the people who stay at
the shelter are out after curfew doing
drugs and disrupting the community.
“How am I supposed to react when I
read that the residents of Hell’s Kitchen
have made complaints about the homeless
residents in hotels and the city,
after hearing those complaints, decided
to change their policy on housing
homeless people in hotels?” Torres
said in an email.
Torres wondered if race and economics
played a role in how the mayor
responded. According to Torres, the
racial composition of Hell’s Kitchen
is 59.1 percent white (non-Hispanic)
whereas Wakefi eld is 64.8 percent
Black (non-Hispanic).
Data also shows that Hell’s Kitchen
residents are more affl uent than those
who live in Wakefi eld. Only 11.3 percent
of Hell’s Kitchen residents live
below the poverty line, while in Wakefi
eld that number is 20.9 percent.
“Is it the money or the color of their
skin,” he said. “It’s just nonsense.”
In 2016, the city nixed plans to build
a shelter for people with HIV after
outcries from the public.
According to Torres, CB 12 has four
shelters and it was recently targeted
for two additional 200 bed shelters —
one at East 233rd Street and the other
at Furman Avenue.
“The residents of Wakefi eld absorbed
this shelter after being told for
years that the site would not be used as
one,” Torres said. “Our residents have
made very similar complaints to the
folks in Hell’s Kitchen. I have emails
from constituents about the residents
of these hotels defecating in public
spaces, openly pleasuring themselves
and openly using narcotics.”
Yet when CB 12 asked for meetings
with the DHS commissioner they were
turned down. Torres said that he understood
DHS is within its rights to
put a shelter wherever it chooses, but
was not sure why CB 12 has so many.
“It really breaks my heart,” he said.
“We have to contend with this all of the
time in the Bronx. DHS is very vague
when it comes to detail.”
On Aug. 26, representatives from
CB 12, DHS and Assemblyman Jeffrey
Dinowitz met to speak about
the shelter.
Also, Nicole Jordan, Bronx borough
commissioner of DHS, told Torres and
members of CB 12 that DHS is continuing
to monitor health indicators
closely and is working with the Department
of Health to determine when
and how clients can be safely relocated
back to shelters from the temporary
emergency hotel relocation sites. Additionally,
she said that the agency will
inform communities when the city is
ready to take that step.
BRONX TIMES R 28 EPORTER, AUG. 28-SEPT. 3, 2020 BTR
THE SHELTER AT 4747 BRONX BLVD. PHOTO BY MIRIAM QUINONES