108-Bed 'Safe Haven' For Homeless Will Open On The Upper West Side

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — A "safe haven" with more than 100 beds serving people experiencing street and subway homelessness will open on the Upper West Side in the coming months.

Breaking Ground plans to open the new facility in March or April at 106-108 W. 83rd St. between Amsterdam and Columbus, members of the organization told local officials Tuesday.

A safe haven is a form of "low-barrier transitional housing for people living unsheltered on the streets who have shown reluctance to utilize the shelter system," Breaking Ground members explained during a presentation to Community Board 7's Health & Human Services Committee.

"People experiencing homelessness light up at the sound of a safe haven," CB7 committee chair Shelly Fine said as he introduced the presentation and also talked about how a safe haven on the Upper West Side has been a "priority" in recent years.

Safe Havens don't have the same requirements as homeless shelters for residents to leave during the day, and generally come with more robust available programming.

The incoming Upper West Side safe haven will serve all genders, with residents getting directly referred by outreach teams who will walk and monitor the surrounding Upper West Side-area to build a rapport with people living on the streets.

Here are more details about the programming and staff expected at the new safe haven.

• 24-hour security and Breaking Ground staffing.
• Clinical staff, case management staff, housing specialists, and harm reduction specialists.
• Three meals a day.
• Onside psychiatric care.
• Art programs, gardening, substance use support and other peer groups, and yoga and meditation classes.
• Computer lab, library space, and a TV room.
• Job training.
• Pets allowed.
• No time limit for how long a person can be in the safe haven.

There will be single, double, triple, and quad rooms, and all individuals will also have their own bathrooms.

The goal of the safe haven is to move people from the street into the facility, and then into either transitional or permanent supportive and affordable housing.

The opening plan isn't to have 80 people arrive on the first day, but instead fill those beds over the course of the first few months, before an additional 28 beds this summer.

How Did This UWS Safe Haven Come To Be And The Reaction

The Upper West Side's CB 7 Health & Human Services Committee was joined by multiple employees from Breaking Ground, the NYC Department of Social Services, Council Member Gale Brewer, and community members on Tuesday night to watch and discuss the presentation on the incoming safe haven.

Fine, the chair of Community Board 7, explained that board members for the last three years placed opening a safe haven on the Upper West Side within its Community District Needs — a statement that all 59 New York City community boards put out each year identifying the funding priorities they'd like to see backed.

This year, that call was returned.

Mayor Eric Adams announced in April 2022 that his office would be dedicating "unprecedented" amounts of funds beginning in 2023 to expand the safe haven network across New York City.

Fine reiterated multiple times that the timing of the 83rd Street safe haven opening correlated with this new push by the mayor.

"We wanted to share our gratitude toward the community (UWS) in wanting to support our vulnerable New Yorkers, we understand that you all put this in your District Needs, so that just shows your commitment in wanting to help us out with dealing with our unsheltered New Yorkers," DSS Assistant Deputy Commission Hailey Nolasco said during the meeting.

After the presentation, many community board members and members of the public voiced their support of the incoming safe haven.

“I’ve lived in the 80s since the 80s," CB7 member K. Karpen said. "We’ve needed this type of facility for a long time.”

"This sounds really wonderful to me," a different board member Ken Coughlin added.

Not everybody was pleased with the announcement of the new safe haven, though, and the fact that the location had already been picked within the Upper West Side.

"This location should have been a non-starter," Community Board 7 member Courtney Clark Metakis said. "Again and again, this board has asked the Department of Homeless Services to start a dialogue before they site a location."

"This is not a quiet block, nor a quiet corner, its proximity to a school frankly gives me concerns, I mean we put rules in place prohibiting selling cannabis from being within 500 feet of a school, I just really question this doesn't have the same process," she added.

Other members from the public also questioned the amount of conversation that took place before a decision was made to open the safe haven, and while Fine never specified that the 106-108 W. 83rd St. site had been discussed — he repeated multiple times that the topic of opening a safe haven in the neighborhood has been on the board's Community District Needs for years, and especially received a good amount of conversation three years ago.

The new safe haven will be directly across from P.S. 9 and the Center School, as well its very large playground yard.

The 106-108 W. 83rd St. building was unused, but it is worth mentioning that it most recently served as the Basics Housing Men's Shelter, which was open from 2012 until its closure in 2021. It housed 130 men at its maximum capacity.

"In partnership with our not-for-profit provider-partner Breaking Ground who will operate this site and working collaboratively with the community, we’re confident that these New Yorkers will be warmly welcomed— and together, we will make this the best experience it can be for these individuals as they get back on their feet," a spokesperson from the Department of Social Services told Patch.

Breaking Ground responded by saying that it operates other facilities near schools, and that it has a "robust" plan when it comes to maintaining safety of its members, staff, and surrounding community.

That plan involves staff members walking the community and constantly being a presence within the nearby and building.

"Safety is something we take very seriously," Erin Madden, the vice president at Breaking Ground, said.

DSS representative Nolasco added that safe havens are generally opened in busy areas so they are more accessible to people living on crowded nearby streets.

Madden added that while they had not received a response yet from P.S. 9 or the Center School, the safe haven would be forming a community committee made up of local stakeholders that would be involved in decision-making surrounding the safe haven.

Additionally, many people from the public also asked about background checks for safe haven residents, and while Breaking Ground doesn't do that — they do run housing restriction checks and have their own code of conduct that residents must follow within the facility that includes things such as not being able to have weapons or smoke within the building.

"People in safe havens are generally older and pretty low-key, they’re glad to be off the streets, they’re glad to have a bathroom," Council Member Brewer said during the meeting. “With a really active community group, this can be successful, but that has to be part of what we’re doing.”

You can watch the full meeting for yourself — below.