Public Meeting About Rogers Ave. Homeless Shelter Will Be Held Thursday

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — Representatives from the city, elected officials and members of the community will hold a town hall meeting Thursday night about a homeless shelter planned for 267 Rogers Ave.

The meeting will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at P.S. 161 at 330 Crown St., between Nostrand and New York avenues. The meeting is hosted by Community Board 9, State Senator Jesse Hamilton, Assemblywoman Diana Richardson and Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo.

The shelter, one of 90 that the mayor wants to open over the next five years under a plan to reduce homelessness, has come under fire from some community leaders who say the neighborhood is already oversaturated with shelters and that the city is rushing the opening with no time for community input.

SEE ALSO: Crown Heights Neighbors 'Betrayed' By Electeds Who Didn't Tell Them About Homeless Shelter

The shelter is scheduled to open in May and will house 132 families with children. Some in the community, though, would rather see the space be used for permanent, low-income housing.

"Our community has and continues to be oversaturated," Cumbo told reporters at a press conference Friday with community leaders outside of the shelter.

"We’re not receiving our fair share in the sense of the entire city of New York. Everybody is not pulling their weight in terms of addressing the homeless crisis in New York City."

The Department of Homeless Services, though, says it gave notice to elected officials back on February 15. And while Community Board 9, which covers part of Crown Heights, had 19 homeless sites — including shelters and clusters — when the year began, DHS says, four have already closed and 10 more are slated to close by June 30.

The shelter is one of five whose locations have been announced so far under the mayor's plan. Two are in the Bronx, and one of those is already open. The other three, including the Rogers Avenue shelter, are within a one-mile radius of each other in Prospect Heights and Crown Heights.

A shelter in Prospect Heights that serves disabled women is already open.

The third, planned in North Crown Heights on Bergen Street, has been temporarily blocked by a judge from opening after residents sued and said homeless shelters were not evenly distributed across the city.

Image via Marc Torrence, Patch