More than 2,000 New Yorkers outraged by the city’s plan to build a homeless shelter in Brooklyn’s South Central neighborhood gathered at City Hall on Thursday to voice their opposition to the proposal.
Residents, many waving signs and American flags, expressed concern that the proposed 32-room shelter – designed to house up to 150 adult men – will be a magnet for drugs, crime and other trouble when it opens later this year.
“They are dangerous, they are always wandering around, coming into the store without saying anything and grabbing things. I don’t know if they have mental problems,” Susan Chou, 35, who works at a local pharmacy, told The Post.
“They walk down the street and they hit people. Sometimes they hit people for no reason and it’s very dangerous.”
The movement was led by Rep. William Colton (D-47th District) and City Councilwoman Susan Chuang (D-43rd District), who oppose the plan, and the rally grew to such an extent that it spilled into City Hall Park.
The new shelter proposed at 2501 86th Street and 25th Avenue in Gravesend would be built as a hotel with a community center and then contracted out by the city, Zhuang said.
Zhuang claims the city pushed through the plan without consulting local residents.
“The city wants to put it in our community without talking to us or giving us any information. They just want to do what they want,” Zhuang said.
In a statement to the Post, a spokesperson for the New York City Department of Social Services denied Zhuang’s claims and said the community was first notified in November 2023.
“As always, we will continue to maintain open lines of communication.
“We are committed to our ongoing engagement as we work with the local community to support our neighbors in need,” the statement read.
Colton said it’s bad policy to put homeless shelters in neighborhoods.
“I don’t want to hear the argument, ‘Everything in the city has to be shared.’ You don’t share the bad things. You don’t share the bad policies. You change them. . You stop them, you change them,” he said.
Colton identified the developer of the property as 86th Street NY LLC, Tejpal Sandhu, who works with the city solely to line his own pockets with no regard for the community. said.
“He’s just making his money. He’s proven time and time again that he has no respect for the community. He has no respect for the Department of Buildings.”
Both councilors joined crowds of neighbors and demonstrators who had previously rallied against the shelter plan in March. A petition opposing the project has already gathered more than 60,000 signatures.
Both Chiang and Colton called the shelter a “human warehouse” that serves only as a band-aid on the city’s homelessness crisis.
“We need mental health care, not warehouse-like facilities,” Zhuang said.
Councilman Bob Holden (D-30th District), who also opposes the proposal, said that under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, his district built a 200-bed homeless shelter that residents didn’t want. I witnessed the impact firsthand.
“This is a crime wave in one building,” Holden said of the shelter at 78-16 Cooper Street in Queens.
Residents who attended the meeting told the Post they feared the shelter would not meet the needs of the homeless population and would have a negative impact on the neighborhood.
“This is a thriving community,” says Vinny Laporta, an Italian-American who has lived in the community for 65 years.
“We don’t need homeless shelters. We need more affordable housing. That shelter is located in a congested area, with four train stations, five bus stops, schools and churches. It harms the homeless and the community. “It will have an impact,” Laporta said.
“You have to stay aware of your city.”
Councillor Colton and Councillor Zhuang said Sandhu was “caught” trying to carry out work on a section of city-owned sidewalk without the proper permits, despite a stop work order being in place on the property.
The incidents are said to have occurred just after the start of the Lunar New Year and on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, when construction work is normally prohibited. Officials said both cases were thwarted “thanks to community vigilance.”
Mr. Sandhu did not return calls or emails for comment.
