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Vets losing residence

Amid allegations of bad conditions, the Borden Avenue Veterans Residence in Long Island City is scheduled to close for several months for renovations.
However, one local politician wants the shelter to be monitored until it closes, for the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) to announce where residents will be moved, and for additional services to be added for the newest crop of veterans returning home from war.
&#8220You have to ask yourself is this New York City's Walter Reed?” asked City Councilmember Eric Gioia at a press conference outside the Long Island City shelter on Thursday, July 26. Gioia said he became involved in the issue after veterans groups contacted him when shelter residents alerted them to complaints.
Residents of the shelter, one of the first founded city-funded homeless shelters and the only residence for veterans in Queens, complained of drug and alcohol abuse and threats of violence and theft. Several men at the press conference spoke of mistreatment by staff and not enough food.
In response to these claims, Tanya Valle-Batista, a spokesperson from the DHS, wrote, &#8220We have no response, as these are unsubstantiated allegations and hearsay.”
When asked if the DHS would be open to an investigation into their management, the spokesperson wrote that the agency would not.
DHS officials have not yet released exact start and end dates of the renovations slated to begin in mid-August and last for several months, and once reopened, the shelter, 21-10 Borden Avenue, will have about 240 beds - about 170 fewer than there are now.
&#8220We're reducing the bed count and creating individual, private living units instead of the congregate dormitory-style sleeping arrangements we have now,” wrote Valle-Batista. &#8220This will create more privacy and comfort for the residents.”
So far, residents said that they have not been told if and where they would be relocated to, and the DHS spokesperson wrote that the Salvation Army is in charge of alerting residents.
&#8220The goal is to place as many clients as possible into permanent housing prior to the renovations. Those that remain will be placed together in one facility,” the spokesperson wrote.
However, several veterans' representatives on hand, for the recent press conference said that residents need to know as soon as possible where they will go and that conditions at the Borden Avenue residence should be investigated.
Pat Toro, President of Chapter 32 of the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA), said that the current treatment of veterans is not &#8220working.” He added that about 50 percent of the city's homeless population is comprised of veterans, many of who fought in Vietnam.
&#8220It's just been swept under the carpet for too long. Veterans need to be treated better,” Toro said.