A few days before Veterans Day, a group of homeless veterans were forced to leave their temporary home after damage from Superstorm Sandy deemed the structure uninhabitable.
According to a Department of Homeless Services (DHS) spokesperson, 243 veterans were removed from the Borden Avenue facility and dispersed to others following the storm, including one on West 9th Street in Brooklyn’s Carroll Gardens neighborhood. After suffering significant damage and flooding, the temporary housing facility will undergo repairs in the near future to return the building to its former state.
“We want the veterans to be able to come back to the location they know and are familiar with,” said the DHS spokesperson.
According to Craig Hammerman, district manager of Community Board 6 in Brooklyn, the veterans moved into a Carroll Gardens facility last Tuesday. While Hammerman said the community has been in an uproar over potential plans to turn the building into a full-time shelter, residents understood that in the wake of the storm, this was an extenuating circumstance.
“These are extreme circumstances and I’m sure they were thankful to have a bed and heat and food and the basic things needed to get by,” said Hammerman.
Reportedly, the veterans will only be out of their shelter in Long Island City for about a month.
