Waldo Sanctuary in Riverdale: A new shelter for migrant families aims to provide safe housing and support

There has been close attention paid of late to the current and historic status of shelters, for migrants and for other purposes, in the greater Riverdale neighborhood.

The men’s shelter slated for Broadway and West 262nd Street, and the city-designated migrant shelter opening in the building on West 238st Street near Waldo Avenue — formerly used as off-campus housing for Manhattan University students — have garnered much discussion and no small measure of consternation from residents, elected officials and media personalities like Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa.

This week, The Press received the below letter from Helen Krim of Northwest Bronx Indivisible. Please read it.

On Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, a small group of representatives from local community organizations met with representatives of Westhab, the management of the new migrant shelter to be called Waldo Sanctuary.

The meeting was arranged by Lois Harr, recently retired from Manhattan University, and included representatives from the Riverdale Y, Northwest Bronx Indivisible, the Riverdale Clergy Council and the Riverdale Huddle.

Westhab will manage the facility as a sanctuary shelter. Westhab characterizes the occupants as strivers, people seeking a better life for themselves and their families.

Most, 90 percent, are Spanish speaking with increasing numbers coming from Venezuela, and a few will come from Africa.

The facility will house only families, no single individuals, and will provide services including helping occupants find permanent housing; working papers and employment; school registration for children; and childcare for working parents.

We asked why the facility was not meant to provide permanent housing. Westhab said often families wanted to move to be closer to their employment.

The facility will provide accommodation for 91 families with private cooking and bathing facilities. Westhab will also provide communal meals.

There will be a manager on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week and the facility maintains 24-hour security and a curfew with exceptions for people returning late from work.

Most of the staff has long experience working with Westhab and appears to be well qualified for the job.

We asked for and will be provided with a list of the needs of our new neighbors, from English teachers to toiletry kits.

Let’s welcome them.

The reason the above letter is included in this space as opposed to the other side of the page is twofold.

First, the letter’s content is detailed and thorough with respect to what Westhab told this collection of local leaders about the migrant shelter coming to Overlook Terrace.

We’re going to hold them to that.

The second reason the above letter is where it is has to do with the last line of Ms. Krim’s letter.

People, families, looking for a better life in our country — who will appreciate the help we can give them — should be welcomed.

This new migrant shelter is going to be a fact of greater Riverdale life for the foreseeable future. There are always options when it comes to determining ways of doing things and, for now, it sounds quite like Westhab is interested in doing things in a safe and compassionate way.

We should take them at their word, and hold them to it.

Sliwa has said he will send a dozen of his volunteers to patrol the area around the new shelter, in part, he told The Press, to protect the migrants from each other.

Hopefully, that won’t be necessary.

Newspapers deal with NIMBY — Not In My Back Yard, for the acronym adverse — issues regularly. It’s always difficult to balance the desire to help with the desire to remain safe where we live, oftentimes with property-value concerns to boot.

Hopefully it’s a difficult balance we seek, rather than wholesale rejection.

Although, to be fair, some ideas are just bad ones.

But, when it comes to the former Overlook Manor, it feels wise and just at this point in time to let Westhab do the job it says it’s going to do, and perhaps there can form a conduit to a chance at a better life that might not have otherwise existed for folks who would never have had one.

All because we welcomed them.