Homeless housing comes to Broadway

Posted

City authorities have helped establish housing for the homeless at the long-troubled Van Cortlandt Motel.

A spokeswoman for the 50th Precinct confirmed there has been a shelter at the 6389-93 Broadway site for the past several months, adding that the suspect in two Feb. 10 robberies on Riverdale Avenue was believed to have been staying at the shelter at the time. Det. Mindy Ramos was not immediately able to provide further details.

A director of the NAICA Bronx Park Avenue Transitional Housing Facility, which appears to be running the shelter, declined to comment. A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) said she would answer a press inquiry by tomorrow.

There were clear signs that at least part of the Van Cortlandt Motel has become a homeless shelter during a visit to the location today. An office there was staffed by a man with a shirt saying Bronx Park Avenue FHC residential aide — he declined to comment — and the office contained papers with the words DHS and NAICA on them. There was also a guard who said his company, FJC Security, worked for DHS, though he declined to provide any other comment or give his name.

One man said he has been staying at the motel for at least a month thanks to NAICA. Nolan McGarrah said he previously stayed at a Park Avenue, Bronx homeless shelter run by the organization, but was moved to the Van Cortlandt Motel site since he has shown promise of finding a job and his own shelter in the future.

“This particular set-up here is really designed for people… such as myself that have shown that they are willing to work,” said Mr. McGarrah, adding that he meets with a caseworker about every two weeks.

It was not clear how many homeless people were staying at the location. 

Wendy Reyna, who owns a restaurant inside the 6393 Broadway part of the motel, said she has observed homeless people staying there, though she was unable to recall when she first noticed them.

“It has affected our sales. Outsiders used to come, rent a room and order food,” said the owner of the Caribbean Grill Restaurant. “Now the people here get their food, they get everything [from NAICA] and they’re taking the space of the motel.”

A website for NAICA described it as a non-profit organization that helps the homeless, indigent and people at risk of losing their homes. The website appeared to mention only one location, at 3339 Park Ave. in the Bronx, as a transitional housing facility, saying it has a capacity of “200 employable homeless men referred by the Department of Homeless Services.”

Local elected officials, who previously called on the owner of the Van Cortlandt Motel to sell the building to a community-friendly buyer, appeared to be caught by surprise by the establishment of a new homeless shelter.

Northwest Bronx Councilman Andrew Cohen said he was waiting to receive a briefing from the mayor’s office about the matter. Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz was not immediately available and state Sen. Jeff Klein did not answer a press inquiry.

Laura Spalter, who helps organize a grassroots group that has fought some development in North Riverdale, was livid that the city has helped establish a homeless shelter there without first informing local elected officials or community members.

“People are very upset… We feel that it is a terrible siting,” she said.

Ms. Spalter noted that the Van Cortlandt Motel is on the same block as Riverdale Manor, home to about 256 people with mental health issues,  across the street from the site of a future playground at Van Cortlandt Park and paces away from the Susan E. Wagner Day School.

Last March, local politicians welcomed news that the motel was going up for sale. It was long known as a place for assignations and possible drug use, with one rape, two larcenies and one harassment case reported there in 2014.

“Given concerns over the existing property and its future, it is our hope that you engage with the community and local elected officials regarding any future purchaser of your property,” Mr. Cohen, Mr. Dinowitz, Rep. Eliot Engel and Mr. Klein wrote to motel owner Vishal Patel in March 2015.

Mr. Patel could not immediately by reached. Motel manager Arjun Venukrishnan declined to comment.

Update at 6:08 p.m.: Mr. Dinowitz said he plans to seek the removal of the homeless people from the motel and for DHS to send no more homeless people there. He believes there are about 60 homeless people there now.

“To add another 60 or more people with very serious issues to the mix in that area is, I think, very poor public policy and the fact it was done in secrecy is spitting in the face of the community and, frankly, it’s like telling the community to drop dead,” he said.

Van Cortlandt Motel, Department of Homeless Services, Shant Shahrigian

Comments