Uptown Community Board Will Hold 4 April Meetings On New Shelter

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — The community board representing Uptown Manhattan plans to discuss a city plan to open a 175-bed homeless shelter in Washington Heights four times in April, according to a notice sent out this week by the board.

The board is dedicating the time to discuss the plan in order to conduct a "rigorous, objective, an thorough review by stakeholders and the community at large," Community Board 12 chair Richard Lewis wrote in an advisory. The meetings will be held April 5, 11, 15 and 23, according to the advisory.

City agencies and the selected operator of the shelter have been invited to attend the April 5 "fact finding" meeting held by chairs of the board's housing, business development, licensing, aging and public safety committees in order to "clearly establish baseline facts" about the proposed shelter. The meeting will not be open to public comment in order to allow the board the ability to ask plenty of its own questions.

The meeting on April 11 will be more focused on public reaction to the city's plan. Members of the public will be able to speak during the meeting and share concerns and ask questions of city representatives.

Board members will draft a resolution during the April 15 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. It should be noted that the Community Board is acting in an advisory matter on the issue, and the city is not legally required to adhere to its resolution.

Work has already started to convert a former garage, located at 286 Audubon Avenue between West 179th and 180th streets, into a175-bed homeless shelter for adult men. The city has targeted a late summer or fall 2019 opening, city officials said. The new shelter will help the city meet the need for shelter beds in Upper Manhattan, city officials said.

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 in the area. Of those beds, 120 are located in a commercial hotel that will be phased out through Mayor Bill de Blasio's "Turning the Tide" homelessness initiative, city officials said.

Three DHS facilities currently operate in Washington Heights and Inwood in addition to one commercial hotel, according to a department map of where shelters are located throughout the city as of Dec. 31, 2018.

Community Board 12 members previously shared concerns about how the homeless shelter may exacerbate existing issues area residents have with the neighborhood's homeless population. Board members also worried about the environmental impacts of construction work at the former garage site.

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. HELP USA will also conduct 24-hour security at the location, with a minimum of 10 security guards per shift and three guards posted at the shelter's entrance, city officials said. Seventy-three security cameras will be installed on the shelter grounds, officials said. Residents will have a 10 p.m. curfew, but can get an exemption for work.