8 THE QUEENS COURIER • SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
East Elmhurst residents protest another hotelturned
homeless shelter in the neighborhood
BY JULIA MORO
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Community leaders and activists from
the East Elmhurst Corona Alliance gathered
on Tuesday, Sept. 21, to protest a new
homeless shelter in the neighborhood.
Th e building, located on 112-16 Astoria
Blvd., was going to be used as a hotel,
but will be converted into a shelter in the
late fall of 2021 or early winter of 2022.
Community District 3 — encompassing
Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst and
north Corona — already has seven homeless
facilities in the area.
However, according to Ian Martin, the
Department of Social Services (DSS) deputy
press secretary, two of those shelters
will be phased out in the coming weeks.
Community leaders and
activists, including District Leader
Hiram Monserrate, a convicted felon,
called on Mayor Bill de Blasio and
Department of Homeless
Services (DHS)
Commissioner Steven
Banks to stop putting shelters
in their community.
“Our community is
united with one clear
voice: there are too many
shelters in our community,”
Monserrate said.
Th e building will off er
140 adults and their families
housing. Residents said
East Elmhurst has been
bombarded with shelters,
though DSS said this is
the fi rst of its kind in this
district.
“As part of our eff orts to
bring this fi rst of its kind
transitional housing facility
to this community district, we are also
committed to phasing out the use of one
commercial hotel in this community currently
serving as a COVID-19 de-densifi
cation site for DSS/DHS clients prior to
the opening of the high-quality, boroughbased
facility at 112-16 Astoria Blvd.,”
Martin said.
Th ough Martin said DHS/DSS are phasing
out this tactic, the Astoria Boulevard
location was going to be a hotel, according
to the Department of Building.
Nonetheless, this shelter will serve families
needing support, from young couples
trying to make ends meet to an elderly
couple who can’t aff ord rent, according
to DHS/DSS.
“New Yorkers can and do experience
homelessness in every community
across the fi ve boroughs, and now more
than ever, we need every community to
come together to address homelessness,”
Martin said. “Th is high-quality, boroughbased
facility will off er 140 adult families
the opportunity to get back on their
feet safely and closer to their anchors of
life in these unprecedented times.”
Assemblyman Jeff rion Aubry said
that his district has done enough for the
homeless population in the city.
“No community, quite frankly, has
been more helpful to homeless and
the homeless services department,
than our community,” Aubry said.
“But, enough is enough. And they’ve
gone and done this without any discussion
on the local level and that is
unacceptable.”
Martin said his offi ce made local representatives,
including Aubry, aware of this
plan back in early August.
Aubry criticized incoming Mayor Eric
Adams’s plan to convert hotels into mental
health and homeless service shelters,
particularly in the outer boroughs.
“Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, State
Island: we are not the throwaway places,”
Aubry said. “Th ey couldn’t keep the
homeless shelters in Manhattan because
everybody raised a fuss. Well, we’re going
to raise a fuss too.”
Th ough the incoming mayor’s plans to
utilize hotels, DSS contests that they are
looking to phase out these kinds of shelters.
“We have committed to phasing out
the stop-gap quick-fi x shelters of the past,
such as commercial hotel locations and
cluster sites — many of which were disproportionately
located in the outer-boroughs
— that did not eff ectively meet the
needs of our clients, and replacing them
with a smaller number of high-quality,
borough-based shelter facilities, including
in communities across the fi ve boroughs
that previously never had these resources,”
Martin said.
Th e president of Dorie Miller cooperative
building, Darlene Spurling, said she is
particularly concerned about the potential
crime that comes with an increased homeless
population. Th e new shelter is right
across the street from Dorie Miller and in
close proximity to a new school, P.S. 419.
“We have small children in the co-op
buildings, we have young adults like
myself in these buildings,” Spurling said.
“Why are we in this community, who
were the epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis,
now having to deal with a homeless
population?”
Martin also reassured that social services
are put into place, as well as 24/7
security at this new facility. Th e services
will include the following: counseling;
housing placement assistance; medical
and mental health referral services; life
skills workshops; and support to secure
employment.
According to DHS, two security offi -
cers will be located at the entrance of the
building with a minimum of eight security
staff on-site per shift .
Community members from East Elmhurst express their concern
about another 100 homeless people being placed in their
community.
Photos by Julia Moro
A group of about 30 community members gathered to protest yet another homeless shelter in
their neighborhood.
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