6 DECEMBER 19, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
City Council grills Department of Homeless Services
offi cials over its contract with embattled nonprofi t
BY MARK HALLUM
MHALLUM@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
Offi cials with the city’s Department
of Homeless Services got an earful
from the City Council’s Committee
on General Welfare Monday over
its contracts with the embattled Acacia
Network.
The nonprofi t company, which is a
service provider to DHS, was found
to be housing homeless individuals at
shelters with conditions not up to code.
At the Dec. 16 hearing, DHS offi cials
told committee members they were
working to “raise the bar” with more
aggressive inspections facilities under
their purview.
Acacia is currently under investigation
by Governor Andrew Cuomo and
Attorney General Letitia James for
allegedly providing dangerous living
conditions to rent controlled tenants in
an attempt to destabilize units. Later, in
November, the state tightened its
investigation amid claims that Acacia
threatened tenants who reported their
living conditions.
Councilman Ben Kallos said Acacia
Network currently has a record of 1,184
violations on their facilities, and demanded
to know why the DHS continued
to use their services.
Molly Park, first deputy commissioner
of DHS, said, that under new
policies, the city agency requires
Acacia, and other providers and their
subcontractors, to report facility improvements
into one database that the
city administers.
Park countered that more than
1,000 of Acacia’s violations were in
cluster shelter sites — which the city
is phasing out and in some cases turning
into aff ordable housing. Even so,
she insisted the DHS has no tolerance
for organizations found to fail their
responsibilities.
“Having an organization fail is not in
anyone’s best interest,” Park said. “If we
can get out of using that provider, we
have done so.”
Housing Bridge is one example Park
cited of an organization in which DHS
has terminated a contract over poor
service.
Acacia was the service provider for the
Holiday Inn Express in Maspeth which
was at the center of public backlash from
2016 onward as the community called
for homeless families to be removed.
Although DHS plans to phase out the use
of hotels for temporary accommodations
by 2023, families were cleared out of the
Maspeth hotel in August.
Park reported that there are currently
about 83 hotels in use citywide
as of the day of the hearing.
Councilman Robert Holden — a
staunch opponent of a proposed shelter
in his district — grilled Parks and other
DHS reps about a contract with Westhab
to provide 200 beds in Glendale. He
claimed the agency is not transparent
about its contracts.
DHS said it has been clear and upfront
about its outline of the plan for
that location.
The shelter sites are chosen by providers,
and the plans are presented to
DHS for approval.
In a post to his Facebook page following
the hearing, Holden charged that the
DHS has repeatedly denied his requests
for a copy of the actual contract.
“This is by far the least transparent
city agency I have dealt with, and we
should not have to go to such lengths
to receive basic information about a
shelter that will undoubtedly aff ect our
neighborhood,” Holden wrote.
Molly Park answered questions from City Council members on the
contracting process for shelter providers. Photo by Mark Hallum
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