8 THE QUEENS COURIER • JUNE 24, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Queens pols to Blaz: Call off men’s shelter in Briarwood
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Two Queens lawmakers are calling on
Mayor Bill de Blasio to abandon the city’s
plans to place a 175-bed men’s “barrackstype”
shelter in Briarwood in 2022 that
has received pushback from residents in
the community.
Councilman James Gennaro and
Senator Leroy Comrie sent a letter to
de Blasio slamming the proposed site at
138-50 Queens Blvd., citing a host of reasons
ranging from its close proximity to
a school and children’s playground to its
economic impact on local business owners
and homeowners.
“Th is is a very diff erent shelter plan
than the existing Briarwood shelter for
families, which has housed the homeless
for many years without incident under
the strict and watchful eyes of the service
provider, the Salvation Army,” Gennaro
and Comrie said in the letter. “It is clear
that Briarwood is not opposed to homeless
shelters and that this community is
already doing its part in ‘Turning the Tide’
on homelessness — but the proposed
Queens Boulevard location is entirely
inappropriate.”
In January, Gennaro rallied alongside
residents outside of the proposed site saying
the shelter will eff ectively “kill the
potential of new development and vaporize
untold millions in commercial and
residential property values.”
An online petition was also launched to
stop the homeless shelter.
According to DHS, the Briarwood
location will off er those individuals the
opportunity to be sheltered in their home
borough, closer to their support networks,
including schools, jobs, health care, family,
social services and communities they
call home.
Westhab, a housing and social services
provider, will supply those resources
to the shelter, where 30 to 40 percent of
the residents would be mentally ill and/
or drug users. Th ey will have the option
of utilizing those services. It’s an initiative
under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s “Turning the
Tide on Homelessness” plan to end the
use of stop-gap measures like cluster sites
and commercial hotel facilities citywide.
In a statement to QNS, DHS said their
plan for transforming the city’s shelter
system is “committed to ensuring that,
over time, shelters are distributed equitably
to meet the need in all fi ve boroughs,
including in communities like this, that
do not have any DHS shelter of this kind
(serving single adult New Yorkers).”
“Th is borough-based shelter andour
borough-based approach are focused on
ensuring that these lifeline services are
equitably distributed across all fi ve boroughs
so we can give our neighbors experiencing
homelessness the chance to stabilize
their lives closer to the communities
they last called home,” a DHS spokesperson
said.
According to Gennaro and Comrie,
the proposed site for the Briarwood
men’s shelter is across the street from the
Hoover-Manton children’s playground,
Archbishop Molloy High School and the
Briarwood Public Library.
Citing a “clear and present danger” to
the youth, especially since shelter residents
are not required to avail themselves
of any treatment, Gennaro and Comrie
said that placing “this type of shelter within
such close proximity to hundreds of
children is grossly irresponsible and dangerous.”
Gennaro and Comrie also expressed
concerns that the proposed location
would be harmful to the individuals the
city seeks to help, since it is just one block
away from a liquor store and adjacent to a
marijuana dispensary.
According to the lawmakers, it will
“inevitably — and unnecessarily — pose
challenges to shelter residents who genuinely
wish to turn their lives around.”
Gennaro, Comrie, and the Briarwood
community went to great lengths several
years ago to rezone to allow for mixed-use
development to attract development and
investment. Th e elected offi cials said the
benefi ts of those economic revitalization
eff orts “were beginning to be substantially
realized, but are now paralyzed by the
mere specter of this shelter.”
“Th is represents an unconscionable taking
from the homeowners who have spent
a lifetime to build a home equity nest
egg,” Comrie and Gennaro said. “And no
matter how noble the intentions of the
‘Turning the Tide’ initiative, no facility
justifi es the peril to public safety and the
economic devastation that would be visited
on the Briarwood community by this
proposed shelter.”
Gennaro and Comrie concluded their
letter by requesting that de Blasio fi nd an
Courtesy of James Gennaro
alternate location that would much better
serve both the community as well as
the shelter residents. Th ey also criticized
the city Department of Homeless Services
(DHS) for the “arrogant, patronizing and
dismissive” way the agency has treated
elected and community leaders.
In response, DHS said the borough of
Queens and New Yorkers from the area
who fall on hard times deserve access to
the types of high-quality services and support
that can help restabilize their lives
with dignity.
“We remain committed to ensuring that
Queens communities have the critical
safety net resources they need to support
those who may fall on hard times,
right here in the community, so they can
get back on their feet closer to their support
networks,” a DHS spokesperson said.
“Working together with neighbors and
not-for-profi t service provider Westhab,
we’re confi dent that these New Yorkers
will be warmly welcomed — and through
collaborative support and compassion, we
will make this the best experience it can
be for all.”
Residents held a protest on Jan. 4 outside of the proposed site of the shelter at 138-50 Queens Blvd.
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