165-west-9th-street-031315

As rising rents push more people out into the streets, a scathing report on the city’s homeless shelters in Brooklyn and beyond has found they are dangerous to residents — sometimes life-threatening. The report, conducted by New York City’s own Department of Investigation, described a private shelter system with little to no city oversight, accountability, or controls in place. One of the 25 shelters investigated in the report was King’s Highway in Brooklyn.

The picture painted was similar to that uncovered by a series in the Times and other media outlets over the past few years, which implied the system is rife with corruption, with the city overpaying private operators who do not deliver a minimum level of service. Problems uncovered in the buildings where children were living included a dead rat left in a hall for days, puddles of urine in an elevator, open doors with broken locks, and a broken staircase. Above, the controversial proposed homeless shelter at 165 West 9th Street in Carroll Gardens, which has still not opened.

When will the system change? The Mayor has already moved children out of two facilities in Brooklyn, including one in Fort Greene that was the subject of a Times expose. But more — much more — needs to be done, according to the report. The full report can be viewed here.

Do you think it can be fixed? And how?

Report: Probe of Shelters for Families with Children Finds Serious Deficiencies [NYC DOI]
Review of New York Shelter System Finds Hundreds of Violations [NY Times]
City Blasts Its Own $360 Million Homeless-Shelter System [Crain’s]
City Turns “Blind Eye” to Lethal Dangers in Homeless Shelters, Report Says [DNA]


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment