Homeless Shelter Plan Causes Fear, Anger In Washington Heights

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — Washington Heights residents ripped into a city plan to build a shelter for 175 homeless men, raising safety fears and complaining that the city's lack of outreach showed disrespect to the mainly immigrant, working-class neighborhood.

The main objection presented by residents at a Thursday public hearing held by Community Board 12 was consistent: Washington Heights doesn't lack compassion for the homeless, but the city's plan to build a shelter at 286 Audubon Ave. won't solve the city's homelessness crisis and won't be good for the neighborhood.

Residents who live near the shelter site raised safety concerns about adding 175 homeless men to the area. Maria Flores, who lives right across the street from the Audubon Avenue site, said she wouldn't feel comfortable letting her 15-year-old daughter leave home alone.

"They're not only going to bring the shelter, they're going to bring 175 men," Flores said. "Single men that are going to be harassing our girls, harassing our neighbors, disrespecting us all day... we don't know what background they have, we don't know who these people are."

Flores said that the city should have asked residents living near the site for their input before deciding to build it and said that if the shelter was for women and children she'd be more supportive. She also cited the proximity of schools, churches and libraries as a reason against placing the shelter on Audubon Avenue.

Many longtime Washington Heights residents said that the neighborhood suffered during drug epidemics in the '80s and '90s and felt worried that bringing more shelters into the neighborhood would result in drugs coming into the community.

Neighborhood resident Rosa Madera-Reese said that the new shelter "sounds like Alcatraz" due to strict security measures planned for the site by nonprofit provider HELP USA, which include 10 security guards per shift and the installation of 73 security cameras.

"Why would we want that in our neighborhood?" Madera-Reese said.

A number of speakers at Thursday night's public hearing suggested that the city thought that, because Washington Heights is a working-class community, it would just accept the new shelter as an inevitability. Others said that the city targeted Washington Heights because it is a mostly Latino community.

When city officials attempted to ease concerns of community members they were met by shouts such as "liars," "you don't live here" and "build the shelter in your neighborhood."

Jackie Bray, First Deputy Commissioner of the city's Department of Homeless Services, said Thursday night that the city is building up to 90 new shelters in areas all over the city as part of Mayor Bill de Blasio's "Turning the Tide" homelessness initiative. One of the proposed shelters is located on "Billionaire's Row" just south of Central Park on West 57th Street, which is home to some of the most expensive real estate projects in the country, city officials noted.

The fears expressed by Washington Heights residents Thursday mirrored those of "Billionaire's Row."

The new shelter at Audubon Avenue will give priority to people who were previously residents of Washington Heights before becoming homeless, Bray said. By building shelters in every part of the city, the homeless will not be forced to move out of their home boroughs and can be closer to their support systems or jobs while they seek permanent housing, city officials said.

The city estimates that there are currently 425 households, made up of 862 people, from the Washington Heights and Inwood neighborhoods in the shelter system but only 409 beds located in the area. Of those beds, 120 are located in a commercial hotel that will be phased out through the "Turning the Tide" homelessness initiative, city officials said. Community Board members and residents noted that the hotel is being used to shelter families, not single men.

Local elected officials and Community Board 12 were notified of the Audubon Avenue shelter's planned opening in February. The new shelter will be run by the nonprofit HELP USA, which will offer residents services such as case management, counseling, housing placement and life skills workshops.

City officials and HELP USA representatives were not permitted by Community Board 12 to answer most questions as they were asked during the public comment portion of Thursday night's meeting. When they were given time to answer public questions at the end, about three hours after the meeting started, many residents had already left the room.

It was clear during Thursday night's hearing that Community Board 12 and local elected officials do not accept the shelter plan as it is currently proposed as a done deal. The board's chair Richard Lewis hinted at an Article 78 lawsuit Thursday and City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez said his office is organizing a protest.

Lifelong Washington Heights resident Franco Camacho likened the city's plan to the Amazon deal in Long Island City — "where it's done and then it gets presented" — and said that residents must put pressure on city officials to get the plan abandoned.

"We can mobilize if we need to, and we will make it very difficult for you," Camacho said Thursday. "Everyone here has empathy and sympathy and we know that people need help, let's be honest, but there's a way to go about it and this is not the way to do it."

After stating that the community is empathetic, Camacho wondered aloud how many residents of the shelter may be "sexual predators," reflecting rhetoric used by other opponents of the shelter plan Thursday night.

In response to a comment that future residents of the Audubon Avenue shelter didn't attend Thursday night's meeting because they don't care about how it will affect the community, Jackie Bray said she was "glad" nobody at risk of living in the shelter attended.

"I'm really glad our clients aren't here because I would not want our clients to have heard what you have said about them. Our clients are not poisonous people, they are not bad people. They are not people who commit crimes at any higher rate than anyone else in the community," Bray said.

City officials have stated in previous meetings that the shelter may open as soon as July, but said Thursday the opening may occur in either the summer or fall. Community Board 12 members will draft a resolution on the city's plan during its April 15 executive committee meeting and the full board will vote during the April 23 meeting, closing out a month-long, in-depth review of the city's shelter proposal.