Assemblyman William Colton (D – Gravesend, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, and Dyker Heights) updates the community with the latest on the proposed single men homeless shelter at 2147 Bath Avenue.

“I have received an email and letter which was emailed to Mark Treyger, Diane Savino, CB11, and myself, from the Institute for Community Living. The letter seems to suggest that ICL wants to operate a family shelter at the same location as 2147 Bath Avenue and implies that the Department of Homeless Services does not want to go forward with the adult male homeless shelter,” Colton stated.

“There are several concerns. First the location is still the same and this may raise many of the same concerns. Second, the developer may build their standard hotel under the guise of a family shelter and as owner they will use it to rent out the cubicles to homeless men, without calling it a men’s homeless shelter and an even greater concern is that the owner of the land and the apparent developer will still be the Sandhu group which is the giant developer in many hotels that were built throughout the city. Third the issue of the zoning for this type of building remains a concern for the community,” Colton continued.

“I am notifying the community of this suggestion, because I strongly believe that the community residents must be notified. I do not believe in secret negotiating with developers and operators without putting it out to the community for their feedback. As it was mentioned in the past the city must build more affordable housing to serve the needs of low-income families. Building more and more homeless shelters is not the answer to the problem,” Colton added.