Some Crown Heights residents are organizing against the city’s plan to relocate its sole intake center for single homeless men from the Upper East Side to the castle-like armory at Atlantic and Bedford Avenues. The city plans to turn its UES facility into a hotel and conference center, despite 60 percent of the city’s homeless population living in Manhattan versus 16 percent in Brooklyn. We have a source who works closely with the Mayor’s Office on this issue, who said the goal is to make the intake center more difficult to reach so fewer homeless men would turn to the shelter system. Each shelter bed cost $35,000 a year, or $2,916 a month. The city would rather spend that money on more permanent housing programs and hopes some men who typically sleep at shelters for a night or two would instead stay with friends or family, said the source, adding that the city’s most at-risk homeless population tends to avoid shelters.

Rachel Pratt of CHARM (Crown Heights Revitalization Movement), backed by Councilwoman Letitia James, said her community board already has more than its fair share of social service beds—112 beds per 100 acres, compared to neighborhoods like Bensonhurst/ Gravesend and Bay Ridge/ Dyker Heights, which have less than 6 beds per 100 acres. The armory accounts for half of the 1,170 beds in Crown Heights North/ Prospect Height’s, and has one of the worst reputations among in the city. James said she wants a portion of the armory converted into a recreation center like in Park Slope, and doesn’t feel her district should have to accept the increase in homelessness in exchange. See the full comparison data on social service beds in Brooklyn community boards after the jump…
City to Close UES Homeless Shelter, Relocate to Bed-Stuy [Daily News]
Upper East Siders Want Homeless Shelter to Stay [NY Post]
The Future of the Atlantic Armory? [Brownstoner]
History of the Atlantic Armory [Bed-Stuy Banana]