Financial District residents are outraged by plans to open a “safe haven” homeless shelter in a lower Manhattan neighborhood just 50 feet from city-funded housing for immigrants.
But it appears the Fidi West Neighborhood Association is fighting a losing battle. At a Community Board 1 meeting Wednesday evening, shelter operators said the 84-bed coed facility will open as planned in late July or August.
The neighborhood group, which formed 18 months ago to address the proposed shelter at 105 Washington Street, argues that its proximity to nearby schools and parks will exacerbate safety concerns stoked by the Humanitarian Emergency Relief Center for Migrants at 99 Washington Street. Online petition.
“The migrant shelter has caused a proliferation of quality of life issues, including loitering on Rector Street, drug use and selling,” one member of the neighborhood association, who asked not to be named, told the Post. “These streets are very narrow. [the] “The World Trade Center. It’s a little armpit of the city.”
An online petition created in April and signed by more than 1,200 people called for modifications to the plan, including thorough criminal background checks, an 11 p.m. curfew, safety protocols from police and local authorities, and a reduction in the number of beds by 50. The criminal background checks should also include a thorough search of sex offender registries, the petition said.
The shelter at 105 Washington St. has been planned for years, but residents said claims that its operator, the Urban Community Services Center, listened to community concerns are “false.”
“They checked the box that said ‘community outreach,’ but that’s just a false statement,” said a member of the Fidi West Neighborhood Association.
“The reality is there are two shelters located 15 feet away from each other and both shelter operators are not responsible for any incidents that occur off-site.”
The May 29 petition update alleges that city agencies, including the New York City Department of Social Services, have “completely ignored and rejected attempts at dialogue.” The Department of Social Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Any hope of a compromise evaporated at the Community Commission’s Quality of Life, Health, Housing and Human Services Committee meeting Wednesday night, attended by about 30 neighborhood residents, and shelter officials considered the plan set in stone.
Curfews and other requirements issued by neighborhood associations will not be enforced, but there will be quiet hours from 10 p.m. and “good neighbor policies” to encourage residents to refrain from loitering and “any behavior that brings our reputation into disrepute,” said Hadalia Morgan, CEO and general counsel of the Urban Community Services Center.
“A curfew that requires people to be on the premises clearly doesn’t fit the Safe Haven model,” he said, “so we’re not changing it.”
The Safe Haven shelter is a low-threshold shelter with “fewer rules and regulations” for homeless adults living on the streets, according to city documents. Planned Evacuation Centre It provides primary care, nursing, psychiatric, security and consultation services to residents.
Nearby schools include Leman Preparatory School, PS 150, and the High School of Economics and Finance, as well as West Thames Playground, Zuccotti Park, and Liberty Park.
A similar plan to build a long-term stay facility for single men at 41-43 Beekman Street has angered local residents. Construction on the facility is scheduled to begin this summer and open in late 2025.
Plans to build a 60-bed shelter with a rooftop smoking area at 320 Pearl Street have also caused controversy in Lower Manhattan, The Washington Post previously reported.
The Urban Community Services Center currently operates over 20 transitional and permanent supportive housing facilities throughout New York City.
Capt. Joel Rosenthal, commander of the NYPD’s 1st Precinct, who attended Wednesday’s meeting, said police have been responding to noise and quality of life complaints from the migrant shelter at 99 Washington St., and will continue to respond to “all calls” once the new shelter opens.
“If we’re there and we see it, then of course we’ll take action,” Rosenthal said. “Other than that, 311, 911 are your guys.”
To address quality of life and safety concerns, Morgan said Urban Community Services “investigates all complaints we receive.”
“If this is a client of ours who is repeatedly engaging in conduct that does not comply with policies and regulations, we will work with DHS to remove that individual and place them in another location, facility or environment,” Morgan added.
Shelley, a local resident who declined to give her last name, told The Washington Post that most local residents are “pro-shelter” and want to help migrant people, but that 105 Washington Street is not the right place to do so.
“It’s really tightly packed,” Shelley told The Post. “Most of the people are fun and nice and happy to be here, but there are just so many people on that corner.”
“It’s extreme gaslighting to pretend there’s no problem,” another local resident told The Post. “This has been going on for years, and it’s done very quietly and insidiously.”
