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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2019
The cost of
compassion
Huge price gap in Slope, Gowanus shelters
BY AIDAN GRAHAM
A new homeless shelter
coming to Gowanus in November
will cost taxpayers
roughly half per unit as two
massive shelters slated to
open in nearby Park Slope
the following month.
The new facility will occupy
a recently constructed
building on Third Avenue
near Sixth Street originally
planned as a hotel, where
operator Praxis Housing
will provide refuge for 116
adults in 58 two-person
units, according to the Department
of Homeless Services.
The Gowanus facility
will provide around-theclock
security, feature a 10
p.m. curfew, and offer an
on-site outdoor space for
smoking and recreation, according
to a Praxis rep.
City housing honchos
have budgeted nearly $32
million over nine years for
the Gowanus shelter, which
includes both the cost of
rent and social services.
That budget — which equals
slightly more than $5,100
per unit, per month — represents
a worst-case estimate,
and the real amount
will be lowered after the
deal is fi nalized in the coming
weeks, according to a
department spokeswoman.
Even with the artifi -
cially infl ated number, the
price for the Third Avenue
shelter is substantially
lower than two soon-toopen
Fourth Avenue shelters
— located at 535 and
555 Fourth avenues in Park
Slope, and featuring a combined
253 housing units for
families — which will cost
taxpayers an average of
more than $10,000 per unit,
according to city data .
The Park Slope shelters
— which will be run by
non-profi t Women In Need
— have drawn fi erce opposition
from locals outraged by
the sky-high price tag.
Matthew Borden, Assistant
Commissioner of Government
Affairs and External
Relations at Department
of Homeless Services, declined
to answer questions
regarding how the Third
Avenue shelter’s $32 million
price tag was calculated,
and refused to explain the
massive price disparity between
the Gowanus Shelter
and its Fourth Avenue
counterparts at a Sept. 4
community meeting about
the shelters, citing ongoing
contract negotiations.
Homeless Services
spokesman Isaac McGinn
similarly refused to provide
specifi cs regarding the
agency’s deals with Women
in Need and Praxis, saying
neither contract has been fi -
nalized.
McGinn did, however,
describe certain factors
that can infl uence shelter
costs, including differences
in client population — in
this case, families versus
adults — security concerns,
and the cost of renting property
in Park Slope as opposed
to Gowanus.
However, the greater
part of funding for the
Fourth Avenue shelters—
roughly $6,000 on average
per unit — is not earmarked
for rent, but will
go directly to Women in
Need to provide security
COMING SOON: The city is
planning to open a new homeless
shelter in Gowanus, which
will serve 116 displaced adults.
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and social services.
That fi gure is roughly
twice what the shelter operator
requires to manage
another family shelter in
Brownsville, according to
a Gothamist report . The
push to build homeless
housing in the area is part
of the city’s “Turning the
Tide on Homelessness”
initiative, which calls for
shelters to be more-evenly
spread out across New
York — rather than clustered
in low-income areas,
as they had historically
been.
Community Board 6
— which encompasses
Gowanus, Park Slope, and
other nearby neighborhoods
— has traditionally
only featured one homeless
facility, located in the Park
Slope Armory on Eighth
Avenue and 14th Street.
Councilman Brad
Lander (D—Park Slope)
pointed to the lack of shelter
density — the neighborhood
currently has only
100 beds — in the area as
evidence that Park Slope
should be welcoming of
more facilities.
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