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Email Community Board 3 to ask them to represent the community!

Community Board 3 does not REPRESENT THE COMMUNITY on shelter siting and is taking actions without representing the community’s interest, especially regarding 91 East Broadway. The East Broadway corridor extends from Chinatown to LES. Its residents and businesses need help to recover from the compounding impacts of 9-11, the great recession, the COVID pandemic, and the current incidents of Asian hate crimes. More shelters will further erode our economic base and take a potential housing/hotel site offline. Our concern with NYC's Shelter Plan for the area needs to be acknowledged by Community Board 3, NYC Department of Homeless Shelters (NYCDHS), and the Mayor’s office.

Fair Share

Within 0.5 mile radius of 91 East Broadway, there are at least eight (8) known homeless shelters that disproportionately provide services for adults and not families, some of them are private shelters that provide services but are not counted in the NYC’s data. Below is a list of existing shelters in our community by type and district:

  1. 227 Bowery (Adults, CD3)

  2. 197 Bowery (Single Adults, CD3)

  3. 61-63 Chrystie Street (Single Adults, CD3)

  4. 5 Allen Street (Single Adults, CD3)

  5. 78 Catherine Slip (Family shelter being converted for adults only, CD3)

  6. 33 Essex Street (Teenage drop-in center, CD3)

  7. 90 Lafayette Street (Single Adults, CD1)

  8. Proposed 349 Canal Street (Single Adults, CB2)

In 2019, NYCDHS provided homelessness data regarding shelter usage in the community and according to the research, CD3 housed 1,666 homeless individuals, of which only 579 were from the district. CD3 is one of the few districts that houses such a huge number of non-district homeless people, whereas other neighborhoods have few to no shelters. According to the DHS, there are approximately 150 homeless individuals living in CD3 and if there weren't so many non-district homeless individuals, CD3 shelters would have the capacity to house all of our homeless.  

Lack of Transparency and Outreach

Community Board 3 and NYCDHS have not conducted outreach to key community constituents in a language-appropriate or timely manner. The impact area is primarily an immigrant community. No in-language outreach effort was made to notify the community regarding NYCDHS presentation at Community Board 3’s Human Services community meetings. Furthermore, NYC protocol includes outreach to community organizations at least 30 days in advance of selecting a shelter site. DHS did not do outreach to local nonprofits, chambers, schools, churches or any other entities.

Economy and Safety

The impact area used to be a vibrant, economic hub for new immigrants. Historically, East Broadway was a safe and thriving area with low vacancy rates. Today, a third of the retail stores are closed and vacant. The East Broadway Mall, once a vibrant community attraction that employed thousands of workers, has a 90% vacancy rate. The closure of Park Row and nearby municipal parking garage, the building of a mega jail, the decline of the population, and COVID have had devastating consequences to our community.

The pandemic has only made things worse for our community with the rise in Asian Hate Crimes, particularly affecting our seniors, women, and children who are afraid to go out. Some elderly people would rather go hungry than go out shopping and parents refuse to let their children go to the park. Within two blocks of 91 East Broadway, there are seven daycares and primary schools, some just a stone’s throw from this site. Local parents are worried that another shelter will be placed so close to the schools because there already have three methadone centers on East Broadway in which a part has effectively become a drug den. Our community is already under a lot of pressure and needs help and support from our government.

Action Requests

We respectfully request Community Board 3 to table voting on any resolutions pertaining to shelters including this upcoming May 24 full board meeting until a fully engaged community dialogue is had. We further ask Community Board 3 to request DHS to reopen a public hearing where community members are adequately notified and can express their concerns. And finally, we request Community Board 3 provide the community with access to the Fair Share Report regarding homeless shelters in our communities.