4 OCTOBER 24, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
No ‘viable’ plan B in Glendale shelter battle: DHS
BY MAX PARROTT
MPARROTT@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
For the past year, Councilman
Robert Holden has touted a list of
ideas for sites that he believes would
be an adequate substitute for a proposed
homeless shelter proposal in
his district, at 78-16 Cooper Ave. in
Glendale.
On Thursday, the Department of
Homeless Services confirmed to QNS
that it has found all of his proposals
unviable.
Last week, Holden’s spokesman
claimed the councilman provided
multiple alternative shelter locations
to the agency that went ignored.
Asked by QNS on Wednesday for
specifics about his where recommendations
for the Glendale shelter are
located, Holden continued to shroud
his list of alternates in secrecy.
“Why would I release that?” he
responded.
It turns out that the requirements
for proposing an alternative site are
elaborate, and none of the ones that
Holden suggested had met them.
“As part of this administration’s
commitment to open and ongoing
engagement, we have worked closely
with local elected officials to consider
additional specific locations
they suggested, none of which were
ultimately viable for use as shelter,”
said DHS. “As a result, we are moving
forward with opening these
first-of-their-kind, high-quality
facilities in this community as soon
as possible.”
The agency clarified that its statement
applies to Holden’s proposals
for the Glendale shelter, which it
considered and deemed unrealistic.
The spokesperson added that DHS
is still open to working with the
community and collaboration with
agency partners.
To create a viable alternative for
a homeless shelter, DHS requires
Council members to nail down information
about the building’s current
use, property owner’s interest, the
Holden speaks at a September town hall meeting regarding the installation of homeless shelters in Ridgewood
and Glendale. Photo: Mark Hallum/QNS
service providers and the physical
viability of a location. The property
owner must also formally offer
their site to the city for a potential
shelter.
According to DHS, this has not
occurred in Glendale nor any other
neighborhood in the Queens Community
Board 5 area.
Holden has claimed to have a
backup site that would substitute for
the Cooper Avenue warehouse for
the past year. After construction at
the warehouse ramped up last summer,
Holden stated that he had begun
talks with the School Construction
Authority about building a school for
special needs students there.
After the DHS announced in
August they would move forward
with a vocational center housing
200 homeless men, Holden said the
decision had blindsided him.
“I tried to fight against this shelter
the right way, by negotiating with
city agencies and coming up with
reasonable proposals, only to have
the rug pulled out from under me,”
Holden told QNS at the time. “I was
told countless times that DHS and
SCA loved my plan to build a new
school on Cooper Ave., and the
mayor’s approval was all that was
needed.”
Now Board 5 is taking a stab where
Holden has failed. The board voted
34-0 on Wednesday Oct. 16 for a recommendation
that aims to substitute
the city’s proposed plan at 78-16 Cooper
Ave. with smaller shelter sites
for 20-25 residents.
While the recommendation did not
include any concrete alternatives,
CB5 Chair Vincent Arcuri said that
the board was planning to work on
a set of alternative locations to send
to the Department of Homeless Services
in the near future.
Asked about the DHS response to
his recommendations on Thursday,
Holden alleged in a statement that
DHS was being “deceitful.”
“This goes to show that the mayor
and Department of Homeless Services
are being deceitful when they say
they want to work with communities
to find the best locations to house the
homeless. While they engaged in
discussions with me, they ultimately
decided to go forward with the plan
they had all along.”
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