Staten Island residents are fuming after city officials said on Thursday they plan to build a 160-bed homeless shelter for men in the borough’s South Shore. The news was announced the same day Mayor Zohran Mamdani made public his plans to close the historic Bellevue men’s shelter in Midtown.
Elected officials for the borough said they learned of the proposal on March 5, just after the mayor announced he would close Bellevue by the end of April, citing multiple safety concerns. The Bellevue closure will displace hundreds of men who live at the E. 30th Street facility.
Unlike Bellevue, the planned Staten Island site is located in an isolated part of the borough with limited access to transportation or social services that homeless individuals often need. The closest Staten Island Railway station is Richmond Valley, located just under a mile away, about 20 minutes on foot.
Staten Island Council Member Frank Morano immediately held a press conference following the announcement.
“This is outrageous, and I can’t overstate the magnitude of what a terrible decision this is,” he said. “It’s wildly inappropriate and is totally out of step with the character of this particular neighborhood.”
“We were not engaged with this administration”
On a zoning basis, the only way the city would be able to build the shelter in this location is to get a waiver from the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) or similar state or city agency, Morano explained, highlighting a lack of transparency from the mayor and city officials.
“We were not engaged with the administration at all,” he said.
NYS Assembly Member Mike Reilly, who represents the district, echoed Morano’s concerns and zeroed in on the lack of timely and adequate communication from the city.
“My office got a call at 4:57 p.m. yesterday afternoon, three minutes before the shop closes to tell me that this is opening. Think about that,” Reilly said. “Transparency. That’s all we ask for. Have a conversation and we will find a location if need be for our Staten Island people who need shelter.”
Morano doubled down on the location’s lack of available services.
“It is tremendously underserved by the things homeless folks would need,” Morano said. “I don’t know how people would be expected to get to jobs. I don’t know how they’d expected to get to job training programs. There’s no hospitals, no services.”
Support service for those who have “fallen on hard times”
DHS confirmed that the community was notified about the proposal on March 5 for a mid-year 2027 opening. The shelter is planned for District 51, a part of the city that does not have any shelter facilities, DHS said.
Plans describe the shelter as a “transitional housing facility.” It will function as an employment shelter, serving individuals who are currently employed or seeking employment. It will also provide support services aimed at helping residents become financially independent.
According to DHS, on-site services will include case management, individual and group counseling, permanency planning and housing placement assistance, on-site medical and mental health services, support groups, and independent living and life skills workshops.
“As we work to transform the shelter system and improve our service offerings by opening new, high quality shelter facilities across the city, we are committed to ensuring that every community has adequate safety net resources to support New Yorkers in need,” a DHS spokesperson said. “This new transitional housing facility will be the first shelter facility of any kind in this council district and will provide critical capacity and dedicated supports and services for New Yorkers who have fallen on hard times.”
Longtime Staten Island resident and mom Alexis Petruzzelli said she has concerns about the shelter plans. One of her most significant concerns surrounding the proposal is the location’s immediate proximity to two dance studios that are attended primarily by young girls and adolescents.
“These studios are active throughout the afternoon and evening hours and serve hundreds of students each week,” she said. The proposed shelter is expected to house approximately 160 adult men, and the idea of placing a facility of that size directly adjacent to spaces where large numbers of young girls regularly gather raises understandable concerns for many parents in the community.”
The site, while isolated from mass transit, is in closer proximity to small businesses including the dance schools, each one less than .2 miles away. Starbucks is less than half a mile away.
“Dance studios are intended to be safe, supportive environments where children can focus on their training, confidence, and creativity,” Petruzzelli explained. “Parents should feel comfortable knowing that when they drop their daughters off for class, the surrounding environment supports that sense of safety.”
Staten Islander Mario Crescenzo said a shelter in this location lacked “compassion and dignity” for future occupants of the shelter.
“Putting people in need of assistance and services at the southern-most point in NYC where there is no healthcare or social services nor any real access to public transportation is cruel,” he said.
Some Staten Island residents support the idea.
“I don’t understand why everyone assumes that all the homeless are criminals? Do you think they chose to be homeless? Some are good people even vets who became a jobless person due to all this computer take over of jobs,” one resident named Ann said.
Staten Island has “gotten all the burdens” of the city
Borough President Vito Fossella expressed concerns for Staten Island beyond the shelter, explaining that residents have been receiving an “unfair share of the burdens” of the city.
“Too often have we gotten all of the burdens – the dump, most egregiously, but also congestion pricing, the migrant crisis, BESS facilities, the City of Yes, and so on,” he said. “And, too often, we have received none of the benefits we ask for – more cops, lower taxes, more incentives, more and better mass transit, and so on.”
He zeroed in on snowstorm chaos and the mayor’s March 3 announcement of a free 2-K childcare pilot program, which includes all boroughs except Staten Island.
“And more recently, on top of the incoming shelter, we have been left to fend on our own with two major snowstorms, and our children have been excluded from the 2,000-seat Free 2-K childcare pilot program,” Fossella said.
Community Housing Innovations (CHI) is the non-profit organization that will operate the shelter. According to city officials, CHI will provide 24-hour on-site security. Two to three security officers will be located at the entrance to control building access and to monitor security cameras, which will be located throughout the building and grounds. Multiple security staff will be on-site at all times to oversee facility security, officials said.
“We look forward to working collaboratively with our experienced not-for-profit provider, Community Housing Innovations, and the local community to support our vulnerable neighbors as they work to get back on their feet,” the DHS spokesperson said. “This site will we remain committed to maintaining open lines of communication and addressing any concerns as they arise.”
Staten Island officials said shelter plans are not finalized and they intend to continue their opposition throughout the process.