During the Queens Community Board 10 board meeting last week, Transitional Services NY Chief Operator Daniel Donoghue laid out the nonprofit’s plan to build a brand new respite center to assist people in “working toward personal recovery goals.”
Half of the proposed center, located at 96-25 Rockaway Blvd. in Ozone Park, would provide housing to those in immediate emotional crises, with the other offering the organization full rehabilitative and transitional services, according to Donoghue.
The plan will demolish the existing Villa Marcello building and construct the conjoined residences, but with separate entrances and secure lobbies staffed 24/7, where visitors must sign in to gain access. Transitional Services NY partnered with Amie Gross Architecture to design the building to “fit in” with the neighborhood, and includes comforts such as outdoor and recreation spaces.
For the respite center, all potential residents need is a signed letter from a healthcare professional verifying any mental illness, no matter how severe. According to Donoghue, the respite center, containing 10 beds and allowing a maximum stay of 28 days, will have an open-door policy and no mandatory curfew.
“If you know somebody who has had a psychiatric disability and has ever had to go to a hospital, they’re life halts,” Donoghue said at the board meeting. “You can get the same level of care and support that you would in a medical setting, just in the community.”
The policy allows individuals to continue working their jobs, attend school or visit friends and family. Employees will check in on residents out past curfew if their whereabouts are unknown for safety.
Many New York homeless shelters are on a first-come, first-served basis. Residents can lose their beds if they do not report for curfew. However, Transitional Services NY has a unique approach when it comes to operating its transitional centers, and allows residents the same freedoms as the respite center. The transitional center, containing 14 beds and a maximum stay of 120 days, assigns individuals a case worker who begins filing their application with the city to find permanent housing and other necessary services. Transitional Services NY has over 1,000 units of its own housing, and Donoghue is “confident” that motivated residents will find a home by the end of the 120-day period.
“The area already has problems with EDPs as it is, and this is only going to compound the issue further. If this had come across my desk, I would never have approved it. Unfortunately, they have an as-of-right to build, and now we will have another location that the precinct will need to keep an eye on,” said Councilmember Joann Ariola.
Some members of the public present at the meeting had similar concerns, but Donoghue assured them that no drugs or alcohol would be permitted inside and that centers in similar areas in Queens did not increase any safety issues for the surrounding businesses, residences, or schools.
During the meeting, Chairperson Betty Braton clarified that since the project is not a ULURP item, any board member objections to the proposal needed to pertain to “saturation of similar facilities” within the area, of which there were none within the same category.
“We thank you for the presentation, and we hope the center works out,” Braton said.
Approval of the center’s location will come within the next 40 days from the municipality, in accordance with the Mental Hygiene Law, Section 41.34.
