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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, JUNE 2, 2019
SHELTER
by Park Slope Councilman
Brad Lander on May 1, the
legislator told locals that
the city had exceeded its
commitment to provide 30-
days notice of shelter openings
by several months.
But many locals said
they were caught off guard
by the shelter announcement,
and the audience repeatedly
booed presenters,
including Jackie Bray, fi rst
deputy commissioner at the
Department of Homeless
Services, and former City
Council Speaker Christine
Quinn, who heads up
the non-profi t organization
that will operate the shelters,
called Win.
The petition states locals
have serious concerns
about the density of the proposed
shelters, although
Lander noted earlier this
month that the two buildings
— originally intended
as market-rate rentals —
would have attracted the
same amount of people under
their original use, only
wealthier.
And the proposed
Fourth Avenue shelters are
not the largest in Brooklyn,
according to a spokeswoman
for the Department
of Social Services, who
noted that Win operates
two neighboring shelters
that serve a combined 412
families elsewhere in the
borough.
Kapoor goes on to claim
via the petition that Fourth
Avenue between Prospect
Avenue and Ninth Street
has become a dumping
ground for the city’s social
and environmental problems,
and is already host to
a Department of Sanitation
garage and waste-transfer
station, the Department of
Transportation’s noxious
Hamilton Avenue asphalt
plant, and the Gowanus Parole
Center, making the addition
of two massive shelters
unbearable.
None of those facilities,
however, are actually located
on Fourth Avenue;
both the sanitation garage
and parole center are located
on Second Avenue,
while the asphalt plant and
waste-transfer station are
on Hamilton Avenue.
One thing omitted from
the petition are concerns
over the shelter’s effects on
nearby property values, but
Kapoor — a condo owner —
admitted that issue remains
a source of worry for her,
and her neighbors, despite
claims Bray made at the
May 1st meeting that shelters
do not affect the value of
neighboring homes.
“Even though in the
town hall they said historically
there’s no data
that shows property values
aren’t effected by shelters,
the fact is there’s very little
date on this type of huge…
we’re not talking about one
shelter, we’re talking about
two huge shelters near our
properties,” Kapoor said.
“Theres no doubt this will
have a negative impact on
the property value.”
Kapoor is a women’s
rights activist and founder
of Sayfty, an advocacy
group that promotes programs
and initiatives that
protect women against domestic
violence and rape.
She said she see’s no confl
ict in advocating against
the shelters, despite its intended
purpose of serving
mostly women and children,
claiming restrictions
that prevent families from
stay more than a year will
prevent them from making
meaningful connections
within the community, and
from getting the services
they need.
“I’m all for helping and
empowering women, but
I don’t see this as a way of
empowering women and
families,” she said. “The
city hasn’t given us enough
reason and information on
how they’re helping them
out.”
The petition’s claim
that shelter residents get
the boot after one year is
not true, according to a
spokeswoman for the Department
of Social Services,
who said that all
homeless New Yorkers
have the right to shelter
for as long as they need it.
The city will host a public
contract hearing on
June 27, where the Mayor’s
Offi ce of Contract Services
will share a fi nal draft version
of the city’s agreement
with the developer before
it’s signed.
SIGN OF SCORN: Locals created a petition to protest two homeless shelters planned for Fourth
Avenue. Google
Continued from page 1