City Loses Appeal To Move More Families Into Brooklyn Shelter While Court Case Continues

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN, NY — The city lost an appeal Wednesday afternoon to allow it to move more families into a Crown Heights homeless shelter that sits in limbo following a lawsuit filed by some neighbors.

A judge last week issued a temporary restraining order against the shelter — which allowed the 10 families who had already moved in to stay there but barred any more from moving in — through June 2, the next court hearing for the case.

The city on Tuesday night appealed so that it could move more families in while the court case winds its way through the legal system. But an appeals court judge denied that request on Wednesday evening.

"They cannot move anyone in until after June 2," Rawle Pantaleon, an attorney for a group of residents who sued the city last week to stop the shelter from opening, told Patch.

The neighbors say their area is already unlawfully oversaturated with homeless shelters compared to other neighborhoods in Brooklyn and said the city didn't follow the proper notification process when it selected the site, a building on the corner of Rogers Avenue and Crown Street.

"We remain confident that this matter will be resolved quickly, so that 122 additional homeless families with children will have same opportunity to stabilize their lives as the ten families already residing at 267 Rogers, where Samaritan Village is providing comprehensive social services that will help them transition out of shelter into permanent housing," Isaac McGinn, a spokesman for the Department of Homeless Services, told Patch in an emailed statement.

City Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo attended part of the appeals hearing Wednesday night.

"My presence speaks volumes today. I certainly support it," she told Patch, referencing the lawsuit. "I believe it's important that we begin to find permanency in terms of housing for our residents, and what we're talking about are our Crown Heights residents, and we want to find ways and opportunities to find them permanent housing after they’ve been displaced from their community."

The shelter opened last Monday, May 15, when the 10 families moved in. This lawsuit was filed the next day, and a judge blocked the city from moving anyone else in until she could hear the case next.

The prospects of the neighbors eventually winning the case seem dim after a similar lawsuit by people in the northern part of Crown Heights was dismissed Monday. A homeless shelter for senior men on Bergen Street, which stayed closed during a nearly two-month legal battle, is now open.

"The most unfortunate part about this is that these 10 families were moved in, I guess you could say in the darkness, and now they're people who are already in a vulnerable position are going to be made more vulnerable by this process," Cumbo told Patch.

"It was unfair that those families were brought into this situation."

Lead image via Marc Torrence, Patch