A 200-bed homeless facility at 127 West 25th Street in Chelsea has secured its long-term contract with the city, clearing a hurdle toward its controversial late May opening, according to an article by Tara Kyle today at DNAinfo.com.
The Bowery Residents Committee's new contract for the facility for homeless men with a history of mental illness covers a 10 year period with two five-year options for renewal, BRC executive director Muzzy Rosenblatt said today, the article said, adding that the contract is worth $76 million over the 20-year duration.
At the same location, the article continued, BRC will also operate a 96-bed center for a variety of services and 32-bed chemical dependency crisis center with existing contracts in place.
"The contract represents a blow to the facility's opponents, including organizers of a protest last week and members of the Chelsea Flatiron Coalition, who have been fighting the project for nearly a year because they believe its big size will threaten their safety and quality of life. On Tuesday night, roughly 75 opponents attended a rowdy, three-hour meeting about the shelter with the representatives of the Department of Homeless Services and Community Board 4's health, housing and human services committee," the article said.
The meeting, scheduled to discuss a DHS analysis of the shelter's siting in East Chelsea, was frequently erupted into jeers, groans and sarcasm, with occasional outbursts of applause. "One Chelsea Flatiron Coalition member, estate executor Jeff Lew, clutched his 9-year-old daughter's shoulder as he addressed DHS and CB4. 'You think of all the other children who are in this community right now,' Lew said, 'and all the parents, many of whom spent their life savings to buy a home, who will be forced out,'" the article said.
DHS First Deputy Commissioner George Nashak, however, it continued, told the crowd he had never seen "a shred of evidence" that the presence of homeless shelters in a neighborhood cause either crime to rise or property values to drop.
CB4 is on record as opposing the 200-bed program on the grounds that it is too large for the area, a section of East Chelsea that was once dominated by manufacturing, but has grown increasingly residential in recent years. The board does, however, support the 96-bed reception center and 32-bed chemical dependency program.
Next Tuesday, May 17, another protest is scheduled at 6:30 p.m. outside the facility's entrance on W. 25th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenue.
The Bowery Residents Committee's new contract for the facility for homeless men with a history of mental illness covers a 10 year period with two five-year options for renewal, BRC executive director Muzzy Rosenblatt said today, the article said, adding that the contract is worth $76 million over the 20-year duration.
At the same location, the article continued, BRC will also operate a 96-bed center for a variety of services and 32-bed chemical dependency crisis center with existing contracts in place.
"The contract represents a blow to the facility's opponents, including organizers of a protest last week and members of the Chelsea Flatiron Coalition, who have been fighting the project for nearly a year because they believe its big size will threaten their safety and quality of life. On Tuesday night, roughly 75 opponents attended a rowdy, three-hour meeting about the shelter with the representatives of the Department of Homeless Services and Community Board 4's health, housing and human services committee," the article said.
The meeting, scheduled to discuss a DHS analysis of the shelter's siting in East Chelsea, was frequently erupted into jeers, groans and sarcasm, with occasional outbursts of applause. "One Chelsea Flatiron Coalition member, estate executor Jeff Lew, clutched his 9-year-old daughter's shoulder as he addressed DHS and CB4. 'You think of all the other children who are in this community right now,' Lew said, 'and all the parents, many of whom spent their life savings to buy a home, who will be forced out,'" the article said.
DHS First Deputy Commissioner George Nashak, however, it continued, told the crowd he had never seen "a shred of evidence" that the presence of homeless shelters in a neighborhood cause either crime to rise or property values to drop.
CB4 is on record as opposing the 200-bed program on the grounds that it is too large for the area, a section of East Chelsea that was once dominated by manufacturing, but has grown increasingly residential in recent years. The board does, however, support the 96-bed reception center and 32-bed chemical dependency program.
Next Tuesday, May 17, another protest is scheduled at 6:30 p.m. outside the facility's entrance on W. 25th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenue.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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