Salvation Army Shelter Sham

Since its opening on July 4, a South Ozone Park family homeless shelter the largest of its kind in New York City has become a den of sexual misconduct, major health and safety violations, reported criminal activity, and questionable labor practices, the Forum Courier has learned.
The Carlton House, run by the Salvation Army, now houses over 330 families in the former Best Western Hotel near JFK airport. With a total population of approximately 1,000, the shelter has over 600 children in residence.
Its opening over the summer stoked considerable controversy in the surrounding community.
In the past week, several current and former Salvation Army employees have spoken about a spate of improprieties at the shelter.
According to sources, some security personnel have been engaging in sexual relations with residents. At least one security guard has been dismissed for such activities.
"We have a rule that you cant fraternize with the clients," said Alfred Peck, director of social services for families and adults in the Salvation Army. "These employees violated our policy and they were terminated. I cant go into specifics because its a personnel issue, but whatever it is, remember [the sex]was consensual."
When asked what becomes of residents who engage in sexual activity with staffers, Peck said that those residents are considered to have violated the "good neighbor" policy and are usually transferred to another location.
Sources inside the shelter told the Fourm Courier that the security guards would often ply the residents for sexual favors in return for privileges, such as additional laundry time or an extension of the 11 PM curfew.
Additionally, police sources have said that there have been calls from local homeowners, complaining about shelter residents engaging in sexual activities in cars parked around the shelters perimeter.
Local police have also responded to repeated calls about suspected gang activity at the site.
Twenty-three reports of incident crime have been reported to the 113th Pct., with civic and community organizations filing additional complaints with the neighboring 106th Pct.
Officials have confirmed that suspected gang members lived at the shelter initially, but now claim that those residents have been removed and relocated.
There have been 158 documented EMS ambulance calls from the shelter over the past few months. Residents have been taken to Jamaica Hospital, with a few cases going to Mary Immaculate Hospital. According to Emergency Services medical records the majority of the cases have been episodes of pediatric asthma.
Many rooms in the shelter, including a child care center, are infested with mold an intolerable living condition for the dozens of children with asthma at the site.
The water-cooled air conditioning units in the rooms have malfunctioned repeatedly, and according to housekeeping and maintenance employees, many units lack "catch pads," which gather the condensation build-up that results from continued operation.
Instead, water leaks from the a/c units, soaking the carpeting and hastening the growth of mold.
Windows in residents rooms can only be opened manually from the outside by employees of the shelter. Residents without functioning a/c units were often unable to open their windows to combat the sweltering heat of the summer months.
During the month of August as temperatures soared to record highs several families were completely without ventilation. According to Peck, "we did the best we could to get the units fixed but these things take time. Parts had to be ordered, especially replacement condensers."
Other employees at the facility said that Fresh Air, the company with the air conditioning service contract, repeatedly made visits to the premises and failed to fix the a/c units. It has also been alleged that there were other companies who had much lower bids, yet the Carlton House administrator rejected those proposals.
A small series of electrical fires have also resulted from the leaking a/c units. Maintenance employees expressed concerns that the units will be greater fire hazards during the winter months, when they operate as heaters. As a result of rust and brittleness stemming from months of leaking, the faulty wiring could be prone to ignite.
City Councilman James Sanders Jr., who represents the district that includes the Carlton House, told the Forum Courier that a high ranking official with the hotel workers union warned him about health concerns in the Best Western hotel when it closed earlier this year, calling it a "sick hotel."
"Any time that you take 350 families and rush them pell-mell into a hotel a sick hotel you are bound to have problems," he said. "If these allegations are true, we have a time bomb on our hands that is waiting to explode."
Additional health concerns arise because the approximately 30 rooms on each floor share a single washing machine and dryer, which, by Pecks own admission, are "always broken from overuse."
The facility also only has a single vacuum cleaner available for all residents, who must sign it in and out for one half hour.
Margaret Morris, the chief administrator of the shelter, has abused her power over the Salvation Army employees at the shelter.
She has fired several staffers who questioned the poor safety standards of the shelter, and she has significantly reduced the pay of others.
"If youre not part of the game plan, theyre against you," said one former employee.
Citing a particularly disturbing incident, they spoke of the night of August 22, when Morris called program director Fred Jordan and told him that she was driving to the shelter and that she had had an accident inside her vehicle.
She requested that he get two employees to come out to the parking lot so that they could clean the vomit out of her car when she arrived.
Upon her arrival, two members of the housekeeping staff attended to Morris vehicle, spending an hour and a half cleaning the car.
When contacted about the issue, Morris told the Forum Courier, "I would love to help you with this, but how can I tell you about something that never happened?"
When Morris was told about signed documentation obtained by the newspaper from the two employees responsible for the cleanup, she countered with, "Im gonna get myself in a whole lot of trouble here. Theyre [Salvation Army supervisors] going to kill me. We have to follow protocol. Contact my supervisor."
Morris supervisor, Alfred Peck, confirmed that the incident had taken place. "Ms. Morris had gotten ill in her vehicle and had asked for help from her staff," he said.
The Best Western Hotel filed for bankruptcy after suffering heavy financial losses following the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Forum Courier reported in July.
Under the terms of its financial re-organization, the hotel leased its facility to the Salvation Army, which is negotiating a 5-year contract with the city to run the site. The contract is for $63,402,536.
At the time of the shelters opening, Community Board 12s district was already hosting 7 other homeless facilities. Dozens of local community leaders, elected officials and residents organized a series of protests to block a federal mandate ordering the city to open the Carlton House.
Queens Borough President Helen Marshall spoke with the Forum Courier at length about the shelter.
"Its very sad and shocking to hear all this. The saddest thing is that I have heard so much of it before. Our office is engaging in meetings on this issue constantly," she said. "The situation is uncontrollable. Its bad for the residents in the shelter and its bad for the community."
Marshall promised to act on this issue. "Carlton House is the largest facility of its kind, and its poorly run. No one should be forced to live under such disgusting circumstances. Not inside the shelter and not across the street from the shelter."
"Its time we put an end to this."
Editors note: This exclusive story was reprinted from the October 17 edition of The Forum Courier.