{"id":231706,"date":"2026-05-14T18:07:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T18:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/231706\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T18:07:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T18:07:15","slug":"brooklyn-residents-are-outraged-as-nyc-dumps-more-homeless-shelters-after-bellevue-closure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/231706\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn Residents Are Outraged as NYC Dumps More Homeless Shelters After Bellevue Closure"},"content":{"rendered":"

During recent Community Board meetings in districts 9 and 14, residents voiced opposition to two new homeless shelters planned for Crown Heights and Flatbush following the closure of the large shelter at Bellevue Hospital. \n<\/p>\n

Brooklyn residents from Flatbush and Crown Heights are irate that additional homeless shelters are being placed in their neighborhoods, a direct impact from the closure of the 30th Street Shelter<\/a>, also known as Bellevue, in Manhattan.<\/p>\n

Dozens of residents attended the Community Board 14 meeting at Kings Theatre\u00a0on May 6 to\u00a0air their grievances over the proposed conversion of a hotel on 1024 Flatbush Ave.\u00a0into a 130-bed shelter for single men.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The shelter is slated to be operational as soon as this summer, making it the fourth Department of Homeless Services<\/a>\u00a0shelter located within 100\u00a0feet of supportive housing facility run by\u00a0The Jewish Board<\/a> and\u00a0a 200-bed men’s shelter operated by Black Vets for Social Justice.<\/a><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Crown Heights residents attended a\u00a0raucous Community Board 9 meeting on Tuesday, as board members heard about the planned shelter at 169 Empire Blvd. Shelter operator Project Renewal<\/a> said it plans to turn a Ramada Hotel\u00a0into a 140-bed shelter for adult single men. This will be the sixth shelter in the neighborhood and it is also slated for summer operation.<\/p>\n

Deputy Commissioner Intergovernmental Affairs\u00a0Jamar Hooks said it would cost taxpayers $154.76 per person, per night at the Empire Boulevard shelter. Fighting for more transparency, residents demanded to know if there was a preemptive contract signed with the Ramada Hotel and the city. DHS officials said they do not have that information immediately available.<\/p>\n

“After halting shelter operations at the 30th Street Intake Shelter, it was necessary to identify suitable locations for temporary DHS shelters that could be brought online quickly to address the reduction in shelter capacity for single adult men,” a Department of Social Services spokesperson said in a statement. “These facilities will provide individuals experiencing homelessness with a safe and dignified place to stay and an array of onsite services delivered by our experienced not-for-profit provider Project Renewal.”<\/p>\n

Flatbush, along with Crown Heights, hosts nearly a dozen supportive housing\u00a0facilities, yet it is the only neighborhood in all of the five boroughs where residents have to walk more than a quarter of a mile to get to a public green space, a Brooklyn Community Board 14 member told the BK Reader. With public safety tenuous in the neighborhood, many residents complained about seeing human defecation and indecent behavior from individuals that reside in the shelters. Flatbush residents also expressed the need for more playgrounds and grocery stores, not shelters.<\/p>\n

\"dsc04870-1-1-2\"
\nCity Council Member Rita Joseph addressing Community Board 14 on May 6, 2026.\u00a0Photo: Sofia Poznansky for BK Reader <\/p>\n

City Council Member Rita Joseph, who attended both\u00a0the CB 9 and\u00a014\u00a0meetings, argued at Kings Theatre that the proposed shelter would be the third addition within a two block radius.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis community has carried far more than its fair share. To have a shelter directly across from a historic cultural institution makes no sense because you would never put this in Times Square,” she said, referring to the proposed shelter location directly across from Kings Theatre. “And to have a shelter just steps away from a neighborhood of long standing Black homeowners is inequitable nor acceptable. That is not fairness, that is imbalance.”<\/p>\n

\"dsc04956-1-2\"
\nMichael Pacheco, 64, a retired teacher questions Project Renewal\u2019s security provisions for the proposed shelter at Kings Theatre. The NGO asserted that the facility will have three security guards as well as a supervisor monitoring the site for 130 residents. Photo: Sofia Poznansky for BK Reader <\/p>\n

Orlando Lopes, 69, has lived in Flatbush since 1960 and defended the Flatbush Avenue business corridor\u2019s right to remain shelter free, especially after the neighborhood accommodated space for asylum seekers during New York City\u2019s migrant crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the main corridor here. This is the jewel of Flatbush Avenue and we don\u2019t want anything tarnishing it,\u201d Lopes pleaded with the board.<\/p>\n

\"dsc05175-1-1\"
\nAila Rose, a retired teacher, responded to Council Member Crystal Hudson that the city\u2019s homeless crisis is not the neighborhood\u2019s problem, and that other districts should take a turn providing shelter facilities. Photo: Sofia Poznansky for BK Reader <\/p>\n

City Council Member Crystal Hudson was the lone supporter of the proposed shelter on Empire Boulevard\u00a0to the dismay of some constituents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issue is we have a homeless crisis,\u201d Hudson\u00a0said to shouts of disapproval.<\/p>\n

Officials from Project Renewal said it plans to set up a 24\/7 hotline for each location, while a DSS spokesperson\u00a0said\u00a0it\u00a0plans to establish a\u00a0Community Advisory Board for CB 9 and 14 to hold regular meetings between\u00a0staff,\u00a0security and community members\u00a0to address concerns as they arise.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During recent Community Board meetings in districts 9 and 14, residents voiced opposition to two new homeless shelters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,90861,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-231706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-homeless-sheltersdhscrown-heightsflatbush","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}