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Mayor Eric Adams
Leading our city
‘COVERING
THINGS UP’
Queens councilman calls for
thorough investigation into
Glendale homeless shelter
BY JULIA MORO
After years of alleged wrongdoing, Queens City Councilman
Robert Holden has called on the city to thoroughly investigate
the Cooper Rapid Rehousing Center over breach of contract
claims.
The homeless shelter, located at 78-16 Cooper Ave. in Glendale,
is owned by Westhab, a private organization contracted
by the Department of Homeless Services (DHS). According to
Holden, the Cooper Avenue shelter must provide employment
services, broker outreach and life skills programming, but has
not followed through.
The shelter opened in February 2020 and only operates at
half capacity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, a
staggering 71 arrests and 853 911 calls have been made at the
shelter’s location, according to the lawmaker.
Holden sent a letter to New York City Comptroller Brad
Lander on Wednesday, Jan. 12, asking him to audit the shelter.
“DHS, the city, the Bill de Blasio administration has broken
almost every promise,” Holden said. “They said this would be
an employment shelter, and it’s not. It puts a lot of stress on the
limited resources of the 104th Precinct.”
Holden has openly criticized former DHS commissioner
Steven Banks for corruption and poor oversight of his agency.
Banks has come under fire after multiple reports revealing the
city’s fumbled contract with a nonprofit that allowed the company
to profit extensively from the transaction. According to
reports from the New York Post, over $4 billion in city funds has
gone to scandalous shelter operators.
Holden attempted to get data on how many men were living
in the shelter, along with other indicators on how the facility
was functioning. However, Holden claimed he was stonewalled
and unable to receive any information.
“DHS has illegally kept information from me,” Holden
said. “They’re not transparent. I can’t get this information; that
means they’re covering things up. They’re covering up how incompetent
and how poorly run DHS is. Steve Banks should be
investigated.”
QNS reached out to DHS for comment, but did not receive a
response by publication time.
Read more on QNS.com.
Vol. 10, No. 3 40 total pages
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