32 The Queens Courier • AUGUST 2, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com
32 THE QUEENS COURIER • AUGUST 2, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
editorial
The city’s shelter communication problem
Whenever the city proposes a homeless shelter in a Queens neighborhood,
the consensus among many residents can be summarized in four simple
words: not in my backyard (NIMBY).
But NIMBYism alone isn’t the full reason for the opposition to homeless
shelters in Queens. As we’ve said before in this space, the city is woefully
inept not only in dealing with this homelessness crisis, but also in communicating
what’s being done to house more than 60,000 homeless New Yorkers.
For some reason, the city’s Department of Homeless Services (DHS) has
a habit of keeping people in the dark about where to put homeless shelters.
Whenever a proposed homeless shelter crops up in Queens, the fi rst thing
you hear from elected offi cials and civic leaders is that they had no knowledge
of the plan until the city started moving homeless people into a retrofi
tted hotel, or when contractors are already on the job building a shelter.
It happened again this past week in Glendale, where residents got wind
that the city was again looking at turning a defunct factory into a homeless
shelter for men. Earlier this year, the city withdrew a previous plan for the
site aft er years of wrangling and false starts. Simultaneously, Ozone Park residents
are suing the city to stop a proposed shelter for men at what was once
a local school.
Meanwhile, trying to get information from the DHS about shelter proposals
is like pulling teeth from a crocodile. Th ey typically send to the media a
boilerplate statement about the city’s homelessness crisis followed by background
information about the problem locally. It takes repeated contacts to
get more important details for a specifi c shelter site.
Th ey’re not even properly communicating with lawmakers. One aide to a
local elected offi cial, familiar with the Glendale shelter proposal, told us that
they only found out that DHS ruled out a proposed alternate shelter site aft er
reading about that in a report on QNS.com.
It’s this kind of nonsense that feeds a super-cynical view of government
shared by many people, regardless of political leaning. Th ey feel that the
DHS, and the de Blasio administration, will just do as it pleases regardless
of what they say.
Queens residents may never approve a homeless shelter on a block, but
they would respect a city agency being upfront with them from the beginning
— and taking their concerns seriously. Instead, the city’s leaving residents
feeling diminished and, as a result, angry.
Th e de Blasio administration and the DHS must do better for the city’s
homeless, and for the people asked to help accommodate them.
sun
THE QUEENS
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