Homeless Facility To Open In Gramercy

GRAMERCY, NY — A homeless shelter is set to open in Gramercy this fall as part of Mayor Bill de Blasio's plan to open 90 new shelters to address the city's mounting housing crisis.

The shelter, at 327 E. 17th St., near First Avenue, will open in a space formerly occupied by a treatment center that provided services and healthcare for patients with HIV/AIDS. City officials say the facility won't be operated like a traditional, long-term shelter, but instead will serve as a "safe haven" facility, a designation that means the space will be used to help transition street homeless New Yorkers to a place where they can receive more consistent and permanent care.

News of the facility was first reported by DNAinfo. (Want more local news? Sign up here for free news alerts and neighborhood updates from Patch.)

The thousands of people who sleep in city parks, on subways and under overhangs each night have often experienced trauma, mental illness or substance abuse issues, making them less receptive to supportive services, according to experts. A vast network of city and nonprofit employees routinely travel throughout the city and the subway to establish relationships with New Yorkers living on the streets and transition them to indoor shelters.

A survey from February 2016 indicated that at least 2,794 people were living on New York City streets, according to the city, but nonprofits like Coalition for the Homeless say such surveys routinely underestimate the actual number of street homeless New Yorkers.

The East 17th Street facility, which will be run by the nonprofit Bowery Residents Committee, will work to transition people living on the streets into permanent housing. Like the city, BRC also has a street outreach team that patrols some Manhattan neighborhoods as well as the subways to inform people of long-term support and housing.

The "safe haven" center will have 28 overnight beds as well as programs that are better equipped to work with people who have been living on the streets. Experts and city officials also note that smaller sites are usually better equipped to serve street homeless people instead of a larger, more complex shelter.

"Helping street homeless New Yorkers transition indoors requires persistent and compassionate outreach coupled with facilities geared towards clients who are often resistant to accepting services," DHS spokesman Isaac McGinn said in statement.

"Starting this fall, we will be utilizing this location as a small safe haven to help transition our homeless neighbors off the streets—such low-barrier programs with robust on-site services are often the first step towards bringing these individuals indoors more permanently."

Image credit: Spencer Platt / Staff / Getty Images News.