Meeting Will Discuss Two Homeless Shelters Planned For Park Slope

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — Residents will get the chance next week to learn about two new homeless shelters that will open later this year on Fourth Avenue as part of the city's plan to overhaul the shelter system.

The meeting — moderated by Councilman Brad Lander and also sponsored by Community Boards 6 and 7, U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez and Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon. — is scheduled for 6:#0 p.m. May 1 at John Jay High School.

It will go over the plans for the 12-story building at 535 Fourth Ave. and an 11-story building just down the block at 555 Fourth Ave., which together will offer more than 150 new units of shelter for homeless New Yorkers. Both buildings are part of Mayor Bill de Blasio's plan to build 90 new homeless shelters to create a new borough-based shelter system, according to the city's Department of Homeless Services.

“These high-quality facilities will offer families with children experiencing homelessness from Brooklyn the opportunity to be sheltered in their home borough, closer to their schools, jobs, support networks and communities they called home as they get back on their feet," a representative with the department said.

De Blasio's "Turning the Tide" shelter plan, which he announced in 2017, will end the use of commercial hotel facilities for shelter and close privately-owned shelter units known as "cluster sites."

The 90 new shelters, spread across the five boroughs, will fill the gap left by closing these sites and give homeless New Yorkers access to shelters closer to their own communities, DHS said.

About 20 percent of the 17,000 homeless New Yorkers sheltered in Brooklyn are in the commercial hotels and cluster units, meaning the borough would be about 2,700 beds short from offering beds to all homeless New Yorkers that came from Brooklyn if those sites were closed today, according to the department.

The two new shelters will both be operated by Women in Need, or Win, a nonprofit and homeless service provider.

The 535 building will include 148 fully-furnished apartments of different sizes that will be restricted to families, mainly for single mothers with children, the organization said. It will also include childcare and program space and 3,500-square-feet of retail.

The 555 building will include 134 apartments, 105 as shelter units and 29 as permanent supportive housing units, also restricted for families. That building will include 2,500-square-feet of retail along with the program and childcare space for Win families, the organization said.

Both buildings are scheduled to open later this year, 535 in September and 555 in December.

Priority for both facilities will be given to families who currently live in Brooklyn. Based on Win's data, about one-third of school aged children will attend local public schools and the rest will be bused or take public transportation to schools they were previously attending. More than 42 percent of the children living in Win shelters are under 6 years old and more than 50 percent of the organization's clients are employed, Win said.

The organization also recently released a study that found that six in 10 New Yorkers would support having a homeless shelter built in their neighborhood.

"Working together with neighbors and nonprofit service provider Win, we’re confident that these families will be warmly welcomed—and through collaborative support and compassion, we will make this the best experience it can be for these families as they get back on their feet,” the DHS representative said.