Shelter opponents say they’ll sue city over Glendale plan
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Councilmember Robert Holden shows Council Speaker Corey Johnson the site of a proposed homeless shelter in Glendale in 2018. File photo courtesy of Holden’s Office.
By David Brand
The latest phase of a yearslong battle to block a homeless men’s shelter in Glendale played out in two distinct venues over the past week.
First there was the crowded rally Saturday outside the vacant Cooper Avenue warehouse where the city plans to locate the shelter. Then there was the echoey municipal conference room Thursday in Manhattan, where a handful of the same opponents testified in three-minute increments against the proposed shelter contract: nearly $62 million over five years to a Westchester nonprofit.
At the hearing, Councilmember Robert Holden foreshadowed the next chapter: litigation.
“This project stinks to high heaven,” Holden told officials from the Department of Homeless Services. “There will be lawsuits — I promise. Because this is inappropriate. This is not the right location.”
In recent months, Holden has remained adamant that the city “promised” to build a school for children with disabilities at the warehouse — a building that another speaker described as “dilapidated” at Thursday’s hearing. Holden called the city’s shelter plan a “fishy bait-and-switch tactic by city agencies and developer friends” and said that City Hall has withheld planning and financial information.
DHS says the process has been no different for Glendale than any other neighborhood in New York City.
The school argument is the latest justification for opposing the planned shelter, which would introduce 200 homeless men to the low-density neighborhood amid a persistent citywide homelessness crisis. Nearly 60,000 people, including 21,750 children, stayed in a DHS homeless shelter on Nov. 6, according to the most recent census report published by the city.
Regardless of the shifting reasons for opposing the shelter, one justification has informed the opposition from the start: fear.
A couple from Middle Village held signs equating the shelter to jails because they thought people released from city jails will fill homeless shelters. Eagle photo by David Brand.
“I literally have nightmares once a week, crying in my sleep because I’m afraid of what’s going to happen to my neighborhood,” said Glendale native Diana Shandley, one of a half dozen residents to testify Tuesday. “I want to watch my grandchildren grow up here in a happy environment and a safe environment.”
Resistance to city shelter policy fueled Holden’s 2017 Council campaign and helped him unseat incumbent Elizabeth Crowley by fewer than 200 votes. At that time, residents of neighboring Maspeth, Middle Village and Glendale opposed the use of a commercial hotel next to a highway as a temporary residence for homeless men. They held large protests and picketed outside the homes of city commissioners.
The same group of opponents has tapped into familiar strategies this time around, pledging to demonstrate outside leaders’ homes once again.
“We’re protecting our neighborhood,” Holden told the Eagle on Saturday.
Holden has said he is open to introducing smaller shelters in the community and said he has proposed alternative sites, but it is unclear where those sites are. Holden has not shared the list of locations and Isaac McGinn, a DHS spokesperson, said none were “viable for use as shelter.”
“As a result, we are moving forward with opening these first-of-their-kind high-quality facilities in this community as soon as possible to give individuals and families experiencing homelessness from Queens the opportunity to be closer to their support networks as they get back on their feet,” McGinn said.
