As voters, taxpayers, parents and residents of the Nomad, Murray Hill and Midtown area, we are writing because we are gravely concerned about the type and sheer number of homeless shelters being constructed in our neighborhood with no community input. We feel that our communities have been unfairly over-burdened with homeless facilities and any additional expansion would negatively impact the quality of life in the area for community residents and for shelter residents alike. It is time for the Mayor’s Office and DHS to look at the disproportionate share of intake centers in our neighborhoods in accordance with the ‘fair share’ provision of the City Charter.

The unwillingness of DHS to listen to community concerns has become so disturbing it had prompted headlines like these:
http://chelseanow.com/2016/09/dhs-ducks-capacity-crowd-as-cb5-cuts-shelter-info-session-short/ 

Currently, the large majority of homeless shelters in Manhattan exist below 34th Street and above 14th Street. More specifically, there are now 9 homeless facilities just between 30th Street and 24th Street in Manhattan and they include +2000 beds.

o   The facilities now include:

--The Latham Hotel, 4 East 28th Street -- 228-room SRO housing women and children

--The Prince George, 14 East 28th Street -- 416-units,  formerly a welfare hotel, now managed by Breaking Ground as low-income, transitional housing

--Bowery Residents Committee, 127 West 25th Street -- 328-bed men’s shelter, and the site of repeated police action

--La Semana Hotel, 25 West 24th Street – proposed 48-bed shelter

--Clarion Hotel, 429 Park Avenue South (between 29th and 30th Streets) -- 60-room SRO.

--Mave Hotel, 62 Madison Avenue at 27th Street– 72 room boutique hotel proposed for homeless housing

--Mainchance Drop-In Shelter – 120 East 32nd Street

--Bellevue Men’s Shelter – 400 East 30th Street 850 bed facility for intake of

--Antonio Oliveri Center - 257 West 30th Street Drop in center

 Emergency intake shelters and drop-in shelters pose a real threat to the neighborhoods they are in. The screening process for admission to these shelters in at best 'unclear'. The community is gravely concerned about the lack of screening for sex offenders, convicted violent felons and anyone with outstanding warrants. It is the same screening process that allowed previously convicted serial sex offender Rodney Stover to be a resident of the Bellevue Men's Shelter, in the same community. Rodney Stover was just convicted of raping a young woman after following her into the bathroom on a bar in the very neighborhood just 2 months after being released from prison.  Also the same screening process that allowed Todd Deas, a felon with 19 previous arrests,  including rape and sexual abuse, to reside in the Porter St. men’s Shelter when he raped a 27-year old woman on her way home from Synagogue on October 18th 2016.

 There are a large number of documented cases of class 2 & class 3 sexual offenders being housed in emergency intake shelters in the city. The community is outraged because we are never made aware of these instances and the proposed shelter is less than a block from the playground at Madison Sq. Park and many schools and children activities.

 Additionally, hotels like The Mave were designed to accommodate busy tourist who required no more than a place to sleep. The rooms are tiny, there are no common space, no kitchen facilities and no social services are being offered on site. Most concerning is that there is no security. 

 IN RESPONSE, WE ASK FOR THE FOLLOWING:

 1)     In the place of a Men's emergency intake shelter at 25 West 24th Street, the community is willing to consider family shelter in its place. However, this can be deliberated and the city must address the sheer excess of homeless facilities in this small radius of the community

o       Opportunity for community to welcome and help care for these most vulnerable members of the homeless population.

o       Allows these families to take advantage of the parks and children's facilities in the area.

o       There are no intake shelters for single women or families with children under 18 in Manhattan

 2)     Discontinue the use of the Mave Hotel or any hotel in the community as a facility for the homeless as it does not provide adequate administration, facilities or security.

3)     Reduce the size of the 30th Street Men's Shelter from the current 850 beds to 200 or 250 beds, which is consistent with the rest of the Men's shelters in NYC.

4)     Forbid the admittance of any man who has been charged with any sexual offense, past or present, and any other violent crimes.

5)     State law dictates that sex offenders can’t be within 1,000 feet of a school. However, this only applies to sex offenders who are out on parole or probation . Close the loophole that allows a sex offender who is no longer on parole to reside in a shelter within a 1000 foot radius of the schools

6)     Close down the Mainchance drop-in shelter at 120 East 32th Street. It has failed to live up to the ‘good neighbor’ policy in accordance with the Grand Central Neighborhood Social Services Corporation and has created a radius of crime 5 blocks wide around it.

7)     Add "beat cops" to our neighborhood surrounding all shelters. We respect the police officers protecting us and need them on the streets to deter harassment, public lewdness, public intoxication, setting up camps on streets, and engaging in drug activity.