Locals Furious Over 110-Bed Homeless ‘Safe Haven’ Facility in East Flatbush
(DNAINFO) Rachel Holliday Smith | May 12, 2017 — For the 35 years Gail Dixon has lived in East Flatbush, she says there have always been some problems with homeless people on her block. People loiter, leave trash and sometimes trespass.
But lately, the problem has become more “in your face,” on East 48th and 49th streets south of Clarkson Avenue where she is president of the block association, she said. Human feces have been left on her sidewalk, panhandling is pervasive and some of her neighbors have even had potted plants stolen from their gardens.
“They sit on our stoops. Our homes become bathrooms. They urinate all over them. They smoke what they have to smoke,” she said.
At a town hall meeting Thursday night, Dixon and dozens of others told the city exactly where they thought the uptick came from: a new residence for homeless people that opened nearby at the former Kingsboro Psychiatric Center this winter, which is slated to nearly triple in size over the summer.
Thirty-nine formerly homeless men moved into state-owned building in January to create the city’s newest “Safe Haven” — a specially run facility used exclusively to house chronically homeless people referred by outreach workers who comb New York streets to bring in those living outside.
A total of 110 people will ultimately live there, however, with 71 more residents (both men and women, according to the facility’s operator, Breaking Ground) moving into a second building over the summer.
The move has angered locals who say they were unaware of the plans for the facility and want more details about security and its programs. They are furious their neighborhood will absorb more housing for the homeless on top of the Kingsboro Men’s Shelter, located down the block on Clarkson Avenue, and two supportive housing facilities run by CAMBA on Albany Avenue.
“We have all of these homeless people. Then you say, come bring another 110? That’s fair? Come on,” said Bridgette Davis, a homeowner on Schenectady Avenue who works at the one remaining psychiatric facility at Kingsboro, located at 681 Clarkson Ave.
Officials from Breaking Ground and DHS answered questions from residents and attempted to assuage the fears and frustrations voiced at the more than two-hour meeting, which frequently devolved into shouting.