Outcry continues over impending Briarwood homeless shelter for seniors
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Despite changing its service population from adult males of any age to adult males ages 55 or older, a Briarwood homeless shelter continues to get push back from a group of local residents. Photo via Google Maps
By Jacob Kaye
Despite a recently announced change to the service population of a soon-to-be opened homeless shelter in Briarwood, a small number of local residents are continuing to express their outrage over the plan to bring over 150 senior men into the neighborhood.
A group of around two dozen Briarwood residents slammed the city’s Department of Homeless Services and officials at Westhab, the group contracted to operate the shelter, on Thursday evening during a town hall conversation organized by City Councilmember Jim Gennaro, a longtime opponent of the shelter.
Gennaro, DHS and Westhab recently announced that the shelter, originally slated to house adult men of any age, would only service men 55 years or older. And while the change was made to quell concerns of some local residents – including the lawmaker – residents at the town hall Thursday said their worries have yet to subside.
As is often the case when the city attempts to open a homeless shelter in any neighborhood in the five boroughs, residents pushed back with concerns about property values, neighborhood “aesthetics” and a rise in crime.
Molly Park, the first deputy commissioner at the Department of Homeless Services, reminded residents multiple times during the town hall that the population in question is a “vulnerable” one.
“I do want to emphasize that we're talking about very vulnerable senior citizens, individuals, people who have been through a lot in their lives,” Park said in response to a resident who asked, “how much time these guys will have to wander the neighborhood.”
Park added: “I understand certainly that there is concern and anxiety, but also really want to reinforce that we're talking about some of the most vulnerable residents of New York City. For the most part – people are different, but for the most part – people are very happy to have a safe and secure place to come inside and to stabilize, and that's really the way most people approach shelter.”
The shelter will be the first of its kind for Westhab, which began as a shelter and social services provider in Westchester. The nonprofit in recent years has begun operating shelters in New York City, including one in Glendale, which received similar pushback from residents and the local councilmember, Robert Holden.
Westhab will not only operate the shelter, but is currently overseeing its construction – it’s located in a former office building located at 138-50 Queens Blvd. By building the site itself, Westhab officials say they’ll be able to outfit the space with offices, an enclosed outdoor space and other design features that facilitate the social services it provides to clients.
“This is a shelter that we're taking a big hand in shaping the construction of even, making it so it's therapeutic and also makes the most sense in terms of the services we provide,” said Nick Orluk, an assistant vice president with Westhab.
The acquisition and renovation of the space was paid for with a $35.9 million loan through the Department of Homeless Services’ debt service funding model, according to Westhab.
The organization will provide case management, permanent housing assistance, health services, workshops and employment counseling on site. The site will also be outfitted with maintenance and security teams.
The shelter was first proposed to Queens Community Board 8 in the fall of 2020. The shelter, along with dozens of others, was among the first of a number of proposed sites at the time that aimed to mix both housing and social services, as the city moved away from its hotel shelter operations.
In the years following the initial proposal for the shelter, a number of Briarwood residents have expressed their outrage over the proposed plan. Gennaro began rallying against the shelter before he was elected to his current seat last year.
During a rally in January 2021, Gennaro said that the shelter would “kill the potential of new development and vaporize untold millions in commercial and residential property values,” QNS reported.
Gerry Caliendo, a member of Queens Community Board 1 in Western Queens and the owner of an architectural firm located next door to the proposed site, launched an online petition against the shelter not long after it was proposed.
Caliendo said on Thursday that he’s now expecting to lose a significant amount of money on the value of property and worries that his approximately 50 employees will be put at risk.
“I bought this building 15 years ago, I put my heart and soul and a tremendous amount of my life savings into it only to approximately lose about a million dollars of value because of Westhab taking the building next door,” Caliendo said.
“Obviously, we all know that we need homeless shelters,” he added. “My personal opinion – and I mentioned it many, many times in many ways – it could have been anywhere else, not on the Park Avenue of Briarwood.”
Caliendo has been so vocal against the project that State Senator Leroy Comrie, who is also opposed to the shelter and who was a participant in the town hall, personally apologized for not being able to eliminate the project entirely.
“Gerry Caliendo, I’m sorry that we couldn't totally eliminate this – we tried to make that happen, but unfortunately the previous administration…went ahead and signed a contract despite the protests from the community not to have the shelter located there,” Comrie said.
“I still think it's a travesty that someone like you, who was a trailblazer to put your building in that community, has to be impacted by this,” he added. “But we will do everything we can to make sure that it's handled in the best way possible.”
Gennaro and the city reached a deal to change the service population of the shelter last month.
The councilmember hailed the change as a “major victory,” despite adding that he’d rather see the project canceled entirely.
On Thursday, Gennaro said that now, without the hope of stymying the project for good, he’s hoping to ensure safety for the nearby residents and those using the shelter.
“I think it's probably fair to say that when I first went to the community and indicated that we were going to be dealing with senior homeless rather than the full range of homeless population, people had the perception that it was more likely that the senior homeless men probably had less engagement or problems with substance abuse and certain types of mental illness and that type of thing,” he said.
In response, Park, the official with the Department of Homeless Services, said that while in some cases that assessment may be true, people in need of shelter, like any population, have experienced varying circumstances throughout life.
“People are going to have had a range of life experiences before they come to shelter,” Park said.
The city is attempting to build more shelters similar to the model proposed for Briarwood. The model also includes plans to spread shelters out throughout the city.
Community Board 8 currently has one of the lowest number of shelter beds available in Queens. The only shelter in the district is a shelter for families located in Briarwood, according to reporting by THE CITY. The district currently has a little over 90 beds available for shelter. Only the neighboring Community Board 11, which covers Auburndale, Bayside and Douglaston, has fewer available beds – it has no shelters in the district.
The Briarwood shelter, which will have 177 beds, is expected to open in early 2023. It will phase in residents over a matter of several months.
