City Confirms Sunset Park’s Sleep Inn Will Be Turned Into Homeless Shelter
The Department of Homeless Services has confirmed Sunset Park’s Sleep Inn is being converted into a 150-man homeless shelter.
DHS made the announcement Monday, following Brownstoner’s publication of a letter circulated online complaining about an increase of homeless men — some allegedly passed out on the street or in doorways — in the area. DHS told DNAinfo that they’d recently rented 100 rooms in the hotel for homeless men but would convert the entire building into a shelter within the next two weeks.
While yesterday’s letter specified that male residents at the former hotel on 247 49th Street were allegedly unscreened overflow from East New York’s Forbell Shelter, DNAinfo reports that all shelter residents will either have jobs or will be actively seeking employment. Furthermore, sex offenders will not be allowed residency, according to the DHS.
Nonprofit group and social services agency Samaritan Village will operate the shelter, according to a Facebook post by City Councilman Carlos Menchaca.
Despite adamant protest by the community, expressed in the letter, DNAinfo has found that the district in fact has significantly fewer shelters than other neighborhoods in the city. Sunset Park does, however, have an abundance of low-cost hotels. However, these have not proved nearly as controversial.
[Source: DNA | Photo: Yelp]
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