By Bill Parry
The city began to move in residents of its new shelter for homeless single women at the Verve Hotel in Dutch Kills this week. The facility, located at 40-03 29th St., will eventually house 200 women when it is at full capacity.
“This community has some concerns about the shelter, but they’ve been sympathetic, empathetic and compassionate towards the new residents at the Verve,” City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) said. “There’s been no anger or antagonism in this community, like there has been in other neighborhoods. However, there is concern that if one hotel owner came to the belief that they could make more money selling it to the city for a shelter, what is to stop others from doing so?”
With 27 hotels in the immediate area and over two dozen more in the planning or construction phase, it is a legitimate concern that Van Bramer took directly to City Hall.
“We’ve asked the administration to agree on a moratorium on more shelters in Dutch Kills,” Van Bramer said. “They are taking it very seriously and we are still discussing it. I believe there will be a commitment, but the details are still being negotiated.”
Van Bramer said he has had two community meetings concerning the Verve Hotel.
“They’ve been incredible, really,” he said. “But they’re still waiting on some answers.”
Nearly 100 residents of East Elmhurst sought answers of their own at a recent town hall meeting at the St. Mark’s AME church on Northern Boulevard. Representatives from the Department of Homeless Services and Camba, the service provider that runs the homeless shelter at The Landing, fielded questions about security and the conditions inside the facility.
Elizabeth Stevens, the shelter director, said there is a plan to put kitchenettes, which are required by state law, in each of the shelter’s 169 units.
The absence of kitchens in each unit has been one of the reasons City Comptroller Scott Stringer has repeatedly rejected a proposed five year, $42 million contract between the city and Samaritan Village at the Pan American hotel in Elmhurst. In September, Stringer rejected the permanent contract for a third time arguing that the shelter had not rectified its violations, addressed the numerous complaints, nor demonstrated that the facility is a safe and proper site capable of being granted permanent status.
State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) joined members of the civic group Elmhurst United for a rally at the shelter for homeless families after Samaritan Village submitted a proposal for a fourth time.
“The Pan Am shelter illustrates a fundamental problem in the city’s services to homeless New Yorkers,” Avella said. “When it comes to site selection, rather than pro-actively finding suitable buildings capable of housing the homeless population, it settles for the first warehouse that presents itself. This site exemplifies the city’s unwillingness to consult with the people in the community to come to a solution. The people in this system deserve better, they deserve kitchens, they deserve to be treated with dignity.”
Elmhurst United founding member Jennifer Chu called on the city to shut down the Pan American shelter altogether while offering a common sense alternative for dealing with the homeless crisis.
“For $3,800 per month per hotel room, for a $42 million long-term, five-year contract, which is what the City would pay to the Pan Am shelter operator, the city could renovate one of their many foreclosed apartment buildings or vacant lots and create apartments for the homeless rather than enriching these landlords,” Chu said.
“We don’t need more shelters, we need more permanent and affordable housing.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparr
