By Daniel Katzive
What ever happened to the “safe haven” for homeless men and women that was scheduled to open in late April on West 83rd Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues?
When Community Board 7 voted to support the facility in early May, after an extended period of debate and shows of support and opposition by the community, they seemed to be practically endorsing a fait accompli. In fact, as the resolution was debated it seemed possible that the facility, slated to house 108 people, would be open before a vote could even be taken. But nearly three months later, it seems no rooms are yet occupied. What gives?
Visits to the site in recent weeks have seen plenty of evidence of activity, with tradesmen, security guards, and staffers wearing Breaking Ground t-shirts all in evidence. But there does not appear to be anyone living there, and the building is quiet after business hours. Neighborhood residents agree that no one seems to have moved in yet.
A spokesman for Breaking Ground, the nonprofit that will operate the facility for the city, told West Side Rag, “Breaking Ground is fully ready to operate the building once they are cleared to accept referrals from [the city’s] Department of Homeless Services (DHS).” The spokesman referred further inquiries to the department.
A spokesperson for the Department of Social Services, which oversees DHS, told WSR that the opening has been delayed by routine “logistical issues” and the facility “is not open yet but will be coming online very soon.”
Elected officials and CB7 members contacted by WSR said they do not have additional information on when the facility might open, nor do nearby residents.
Meanwhile, the neighborhood residents who came together to oppose the opening of the facility appear to have moved on to working with the building manager, who represents the owner, to negotiate what they call “safety provisions.” Maria Danzilo, a former City Council candidate who was involved in opposing the opening of the safe haven, shared a letter with WSR which she has shared with involved neighborhood residents explaining the provisions. Measures Danzilo has requested include suggested curfews for the outside areas used by the building’s residents, smoking and loitering restrictions, and sanitation, screening and security rules, among others. According to Danzilo, the building manager says Breaking Ground has agreed to most of the provisions but has not committed to the curfew and screening requirements.
WSR will update this article when we learn more about the timeline for opening the facility.
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Thanks so much for the update. As the temperatures are rising I was wondering if SH had opened yet and if the homeless men in the neighborhood would be offered some relief from the heat.
Most of the homeless men in the neighborhood are transient in the sense that they were not here a few years ago – while some who had been here previously are not longer in the area.
However, a real tragedy is the man who has roamed around 84th and Broadway for years. He apparently grew up on the West Side. Periodically he seems to get treatment – and upon return looks relatively healthy. But declines within days.
The man you refer to, who lives in front of the old Victoria’s Secret site, is a severely schizophrenic man who has, in fact, lived in the area for over two decades. (I have “known” him that long.) He has been constantly monitored by the homeless outreach group at Goddard-Riverside, where he goes a few times a year (they are the only ones he will interact with) to get socks and other items, and, once in a while, a haircut.
He lives on the street by choice. And (thankfully) we do not have involuntary committal, so he has remained there. He is at the level at which, were you to give him an apartment and $20,000, he would be homeless again within a few days. It is what he knows, and how he lives.
One cannot force another person to accept assistance (which has been offered to him time and again). Meanwhile, other than occasionally getting riled up and engaging in verbal abuse (particularly if you try to get near him or interfere with him), he has never, not once, engaged in any violent behavior, nor is he likely to. He is simply a non-violent mentally ill homeless man living out his life on the street.
I’m sure his family is thrilled he’s on the street. Not sure they would agree with you about involuntary commitment…
I’m glad to know that G-R is monitoring him and assisting with basic needs, but recently he was walking through traffic and pounding on the hoods of cars/taxis. Anyone sitting in one of these vehicles would consider this violent behavior. He may just be temporarily ‘riled up’ but he’s putting himself in danger as well as the drivers. I don’t believe we’re really helping him by allowing him to live this way. I hate to think of what’s going to happen once VC is occupied by another business and he perceives that customers are in his space or trying to interfere with him.
Thanks for this context. I am glad to know he is monitored. And helped when he wants it. A sad case. Reading this however I am glad to know he has not been “cleaned up” or “cleared out” in a way he would hate. I am glad to know his humanity is seen, these last decades. And his more basic needs. Speaking of neighborhood characters….anyone know anything about the older grey haired guy who is often by the north doors of the 96th street 1-2-3 stop? Sometimes holding a door, with an incantation that can just be comprehended as “help feed the homeless”; sometimes just sitting. Or peeing in the flowerbeds. Sorry this is off topic, kinda – I also hope a safe haven might offer something, even a place with a fan and cold water, for these guys.
Yes it’s so much more humane and compassionate to let a severely ill man bake on the streets and abuse passersby than involuntarily commit him.
The homeless men in the neighborhood need medical help, a good percentage of them have to be institutionalized. These shelters help very little, they only line pockets of the providers for whom it is very lucrative business.
Bingo. Offering yoga to someone who needs serious, psychiatric drugs doesn’t do the trick. This is just a money maker, an institution that feeds upon the misery of the mentally ill and severely addicted. They don’t do anything to help these people.
Case in point. The Lucerne and the Belleclaire what a disgrace – every day, the ambulances would be lined up to take away men who had overdosed.
Several men died.
There were multiple fires.
Yoga just didn’t do the trick.
The providers, yes, but don’t forget the billionaire slum landlords who own the properties, and whose family members sit on the boards of the ‘non-profit$’ who lease the shelters from the slumlord billionaires at exorbitant and grossly inflated rates.
“Will it go ’round in circles, will it fly high like a bird up in the sky?”
Thanks to Daniel Katzive for his excellent and comprehensive reporting. I was curious about this, too, and hope progress continues to made toward the opening of this sorely needed safe haven.
Mr. Daniel Katzive, thank you for the update on this location. As a next-door neighbor, we would like to know when this shelter opens and the concerns that have been stated both to Breaking Ground and Community Board 7 are adhered to before the tenants move in for their safety, well being and ours. We ask that you continue to report to us and are very grateful for you staying the course.
Thank you for the update and comprehensive reporting. I had indeed wondered what was happening there, if anything.
The community group of hundreds of area residents who oppose this shelter continue to believe that a shelter of this size with minimal screening and no curfews should not be sited across the street from PS 9 and the Center School, on a block that has experienced significant crime, including the murder of neighbor Maria Hernandez in January, 2023. The provider, Breaking Ground, has not committed to basic safety protocols, proper mental health screening and drug recovery services for this population. We believe a far better use of these buildings would be for family affordable housing, which would stabilize the block and provide much needed housing near excellent schools.
In the event this shelter opens, we asked building management to provide additional security, which they have agreed to do, as well as require Breaking Ground to follow other basis safety protocols such as screening for violent criminal history, mental illness and an appropriate curfew. Breaking Ground has stonewalled.
We hope that Breaking Ground and the City will move forward with a safe plan to provide families with affordable housing at this location, and move on from the idea that a temporary shelter without adequate screening, mental health and drug recovery services and curfews can be anything but unsafe in this location.
Thank you for that clear eyed analysis of the haphazard and potentially dangerous “safe” haven. Lack of screening for violent and sexual offenders combined with no services equals a disastrous outcome.Maria, you truly are the voice of this neighborhood and you actually live here… not hipster Brooklyn.
Meanwhile, a buidling of housing sits empty, and the people who could be living there are on the hot streets. I thought NY had a housing crisis and was working quickly to fix it?
It is ironic. And I don’t usually agree with you. Yet buildings for migrants open over night. Guess its more about who is paying vs who is being helped. Homeless are homeless are homeless. Housing goes to highest bidder. Capitalism.