Council bill would boost pay and training for homeless shelter guards
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A new bill sponsored by Councilmember Francisco Moya would raise wages for privately contracted shelter security guards to match the rate of pay for Department of Homeless Services peace officers. Photo via Department of Homeless Services
By David Brand
Eva Conyers was working as a homeless shelter security guard before she was fired earlier this year. The reason? She lived in the shelter.
Charmaine Lathan works at a shelter hotel and lives in another, traveling to her job throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike many of her uninsured coworkers, she and her family manage to qualify for Medicaid.
“When we’re being exposed to this deadly disease we should not worry if we have health coverage,” Lathan said Tuesday.
The two security officers joined Councilmembers Francisco Moya and Diana Ayala and officials from the 32BJ labor union to announce new legislation that would raise pay and increase training requirements for New York City’s private shelter security guards, some of whom are homeless themselves.
The security guards are disproportionately Black and Latino New Yorkers working for corporations that contract with New York City’s sprawling shelter industry, where private companies receive city money to operate facilities for tens of thousands of people experiencing homelessness.
“We’re a city that says we stand up for racial justice, we stand up for respect and dignity of all workers who are predominantly Black and Brown and serve mostly Black and Brown New Yorkers,” said Moya, who represents Corona.
“We will not accept these private contractors taking public dollars and paying their workers poverty wages without meaningful benefits.”
Moya’s bill would guarantee that security officers for private shelters earn a prevailing wage and receive health insurance.
Denis Johnston, the vice president of labor union 32BJ, said security guards who work for private shelter contractors receive well below the prevailing rate for safety officers employed directly by the city. That rate is currently pegged at $18.45 per hour based on 32BJ’s contract negotiations with the city. Department of Homeless Services peace officers earn more than $7,000 above minimum wage, while also receiving paid time off and comprehensive health insurance worth $10,000 per year.
Not so for guards employed by private security firms who are “putting their lives in jeopardy by going to work,” Johnston said.
Another bill would mandate that guards receive 40 extra hours of training after they are hired, including 10 hours of on-site as well as sexual harassment and de-escalation courses.
The legislation will ensure that security guards “charged with protecting some of the most vulnerable populations are equipped with the tools they need to create a safe and welcoming environment, not only for the residents but for themselves,” Ayala said.
