Political arena

The Broadway homeless center mystery

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Just over 24 hours after news broke Monday that a homeless facility had come to Broadway, the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) announced it is pulling the plug on the project. Riverdale residents, about a dozen of whom voiced outrage over the facility in posts on The Press’ Facebook page, will likely welcome the news. But the back-story remains mysterious.

Department of Social Services Commissioner Steven Banks said on Tuesday that DHS is going to relocated the 54 homeless men who have been staying at the motel since October — apparently below anyone’s radar — within the next four months. He cited a plan from Mayor Bill de Blasio completely to phase out the long-standing practice of housing homeless people in hotels.

Local elected officials learned of the development from a reporter. They attributed DHS’ move to their own protests to city officials.

“Housing homeless individuals at the Van Cortlandt Motel was a terrible idea, but the elected officials and community leaders moved quickly in united opposition,” said northwest Bronx Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz. “Our voices were heard.”

Neither politicians and journalists nor many other people were aware that a non-profit was housing homeless men at the Van Cortlandt Motel until Monday. (The 50th Precinct said it became aware of the situation in February.) Whatever the cause of DHS’ decision to relocate the men, it is not clear exactly how they came to be housed in a relatively remote part of North Riverdale in the first place.

Mr. Dinowitz said he believed the non-profit caring for the men, called NAICA, independently found the Van Cortlandt Motel and arranged for them to stay there.

“It’s my impression that the city was working with the not-for-profit and it was the not-for-profit that essentially acquired the site,” he said. “I don’t believe the city itself directly did that. I think some of the organizations that the city works with, they desperately look for places to carry out the terms of their contract and I guess they saw an opportunity.”

Mr. Dinowitz added he was not particularly familiar with NAICA. A director for the organization declined to comment on Monday.

The assemblyman blamed the decision to locate homeless people at the motel on what he viewed as a hasty process.

“If the city contracts with not-for-profits… there has to be some kind of, I think, better oversight,” he said. “Because this seems to have been done so quickly, it seems that it was done very poorly.”

Asked whether he bought Mr. Banks’ explanation for the decision to relocate the homeless men, Mr. Dinowitz said, “I’ve known Steven Banks for about 20 years and he’s a decent guy and I’m not going to criticize anybody who’s doing what we want. It would be an amazing coincidence if suddenly they made a decision to do what we wanted only after the community united against it, but I’m not going to read anything into what he said.”

Northwest Bronx Councilman Andrew Cohen welcomed the news from DHS.

“They should relocate these people into quality housing as soon as possible,” he said. “I believe that this was being used on an emergency basis, but it’s not appropriate for that use, either.”

Bronx state Sen. Jeff Klein did not answer interview requests about this issue.

Ticket reform sought

Mr. Dinowitz was giving interviews between meetings in Albany. He described the closing weeks of the legislative session as a hectic time, with a number of issues up in the air.

He sent out a press release focusing on a bill that he described as allowing online bots and resellers to acquire tickets to entertainment events and sell them at higher prices.

“I believe we need to enact wholesale reforms to fix the industry,” he said in a statement. “The legislation fails to level the playing field between the Goliath-esque ‘bots’ that rob consumers of tickets before they even have the chance to buy them… As Chair of the Assembly Consumer Affairs and Protection Committee, I hope to work with the Tourism, Parks, Arts and Sports Development Committee over the next year to help pass meaningful legislation that will actually protect consumers, while creating a fair market for tickets.”

The bill passed both houses of the legislature and was awaiting Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s signature.

Engel on opioids

Bronx and Westchester Rep. Eliot Engel criticized Republicans in Congress for moving not to fund a package of bills to provide $600 million in grant programs and studies to combat opioid use.

 “We must equip our communities with the resources needed to reverse these trends. Yes, authorizing new grant programs, reports and studies is an important step. But without new funding, communities won’t be able to fully implement these initiatives,” he said in a statement.

 

“This epidemic does not discriminate,” Mr. Engel added. “It has touched every corner of our nation, from my hometown of New York City to the shores of the Pacific.”

homelessness, Van Cortlandt Motel, DHS, Jeffrey Dinowitz, Andrew Cohen, Jeff Klein, Eliot Engel, opioids, Political arena, Shant Shahrigian

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