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Releases & Statements
Public
Advocate Gotbaum, Councilwoman Arroyo & Community Leaders
Protest Plans for 17th District’s 17th Homeless Shelter
New York City Public Advocate Betsy
Gotbaum joined Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo, Community
Board 1 Chairman George Rodriguez, ACORN representatives, and
other elected officials to oppose plans by the City’s Department
of Homeless Services to build a $205 million, 400 bed transitional
homeless men’s shelter at 359 Wales Avenue. This would be
the 17th shelter in the district, far more than any other district.
“It’s incomprehensible
that the City would concentrate poverty in a district that is
already one of the most impoverished in the city. This district
has become the land of lost toys for projects the city can’t
convince anyone else to take. Despite all the obstacles created
by the City, the community has started to flourish. Now it’s
time for the administration to give this community a break so
that they can continue to grow and prosper,” said Gotbaum.
The 17th District, which Arroyo has
represented since late February, has high rates of unemployment,
asthma, teenage pregnancy, and substance abuse. In addition to
the 16 homeless shelters currently located in the district, the
DHS’s Emergency Assistance Unit and the Prevention Assistance
and Temporary Housing Office (PATH), also run by DHS, are also
located there.
“The 17th council district currently
has more than its fair share of homeless programs, shelters, and
transitional residential units. The community's socio-economic
status will not improve if the DHS continues to allow for these
programs to flourish in the South Bronx,” said Councilwoman
Maria del Carmen Arroyo.
The South Bronx community is one of
the most impoverished in the city. Local residents feel that the
Department of Homeless Service’s plan for yet another shelter
places an even greater burden on the area, its residents, and
businesses. “Bronx Community Board One finds that the introduction
of a 400-bed homeless men’s shelter will impair and arrest
the sound growth and the development of the Mott Haven, Melrose,
and Port Morris neighborhoods. This area of the Bronx has been
inundated with homeless shelters and transitional facilities.
Bronx Community Board One disapproves of the proposed contract
between the Department of Homeless Services and Casa Wales HDFC,
LLC for the development and operation of this shelter,”
said Mr. George L. Rodriguez, Chairperson, Bronx Community Board
One.
Gotbaum, who recently released a report
on domestic violence and homelessness, advocates several changes
to the City’s new Housing Stability Plus program and the
City's new homeless re-housing policy, saying “It will just
perpetuate a cycle of homelessness and maintain the need for shelters,”
said Gotbaum. “The real solution is affordable housing.
The goal should be to end homelessness. That’s going to
take a while, but in the meantime we shouldn’t overburden
one district with a disproportionate share of shelters,”
concluded Gotbaum.
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