phndc.org

The Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council

Rally against relocation of homeless intake center to Crown Heights
Start Date: 
June 1, 2008 - 12:30am
Categories
Topic : 
Safety and security
Social services
Sponsored By: 
Crown Heights Revitalization Movement (CHARM)
Location: 
Bedford-Atlantic Armory Shelter
Bedford and Atlantic Avenues
United States
Description: 

Join community leaders and elected officials for a rally opposing the City's plan to relocate the intake center for all homeless men from its current location on First Avenue and 28th Street in Manhattan to the Bedford-Atlantic Armory Shelter in Crown Heights North, Brooklyn.

Despite the City's own data that shows that 60% of all homeless individuals currently live in Manhattan, the Mayor announced last week a plan to move the City's intake center for all single men from its current location on First Avenue and 28th Street in Manhattan to the Bedford-Atlantic Armory Shelter in Crown Heights North, Brooklyn. The losers in this plan will be thousands of the City's most vulnerable citizens who will have to travel long distances to find a bed for the night and a Brooklyn neighborhood already over-saturated with more than its fair share of residential social service beds.

Data recently compiled from the City's own agencies reveals that the central Brooklyn neighborhood where the Bedford-Atlantic Shelter is located (Community Board 8), although small geographically, houses more residential social service beds per acre than any other Brooklyn community. At 112 bed per 100 acres—more than five times the average—the situation has become a crisis demanding immediate attention. The data used for this analysis is the City's own, and includes beds from both State (Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities), Office of Mental Health, Office of ASIS) and City (DHS) agencies, as well as those contracted through non-profit organizations. This data does not include the many ¾ houses in the community as the information was not available at the time of assessment.

Expected to participate are Borough President Marty Markowitz, City Council Member Letitia James, NYS Assemblymen Karim Camara and Hakeem Jeffries, and NYS Senator Eric Adams.

For regular updates and information, visit CHARM's new website at www.revitalizecrownheights.org.

Open to: 
General public