STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Another week, another shelter.<\/p>\n
Borough President Vito Fossella issued a statement Thursday decrying the latest city homeless shelter planned for Staten Island, this time at a Port Richmond building constructed as a hotel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe madness continues. To our understanding, it seems that there is a $40 million, 64-unit adult-family homeless shelter in the works that would be located within a recently built hotel on Port Richmond Avenue,\u201d the Republican borough president said. \u201cOnce again, the City failed to notify us of this proposal. It follows a very disturbing and troubling trend in which the City treats Staten Island as a second-class citizen, and rules by decree without the consent of the governed.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the city Department of Social Services confirmed plans for the shelter and shared a Feb. 20 letter to the borough president notifying his office of the plans. The spokesperson said a public hearing about the shelter is scheduled June 2. <\/p>\n
Contract details published online show a shelter in the works for the North Shore neighborhood.<\/p>\n
Two online government systems, the City Record and PassPort Public, list varying contract values for the same project with Staten Island homeless services provider Project Hospitality. The City Record<\/a> values the new adult family homeless shelter contract $37.6 million and PassPort<\/a> values it at $35.4 million.<\/p>\n The latter online system locates the planned shelter in Port Richmond, and both list a contract start date of July 1.<\/p>\n Fossella and community leaders have raised shelter concerns<\/a> about a hotel at 109 Port Richmond Ave. for over a year. Councilmember Kamillah Hanks, a Democrat representing the North Shore, has not been able to confirm plans for the shelter.<\/p>\n Her office wrote a letter to the Port Richmond North Shore Alliance, headed by local civic organizer Mario Buonviaggio, Wednesday saying the city has yet to notify the councilmember, as required by law.<\/p>\n \u201cTo date, our office has received no formal notice of any contract or shelter at this location,\u201d the councilmember\u2019s office wrote. \u201cWithout such notice, there was no new confirmed information for our office to share.\u201d<\/p>\n Ownership for the site at 109 Port Richmond Ave. traces to a Japrindal Sandhu, who has a residence in Nassau County, according to business records from the New York Department of State<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, the Advance\/SILive.com reported in 2020<\/a> that the hotel under construction at 109 Port Richmond Ave. and another site at 37 Port Richmond Ave.<\/a>, which is currently operating as a hotel, were both the work of Amritpal Sandhu.<\/p>\n An individual by that name is listed as an owner of 109 Port Richmond Ave. on construction filings with the city Department of Buildings<\/a>.<\/p>\n Property records from the Richmond County Clerk\u2019s Office for 37 Port Richmond Ave. also list the same owners\u2019 address as the Department of State records for 109 Port Richmond Ave. Purchases for both properties were finalized within days of each other in March 2017.<\/p>\n