A planned transition from a family shelter to a single men\u2019s shelter in Sheepshead Bay is sparking concern among some neighbors, who say they want the city to reconsider the location.<\/p>\n
The Gold Star Inn, which previously housed families with children, is now set to become a 110-bed shelter for single men. Some residents say the change has raised safety and quality-of-life concerns in the surrounding community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe families lived here. They didn’t cause anybody any trouble. Now that you’ve got men literally lurking in bushes – and we’re just like sitting ducks!\u201d neighbor Virginia Webster said.<\/p>\n
The Department of Social Services says nearly 90% of the families who stayed at the site have been moved to other facilities with in-unit kitchens and additional supportive amenities. Additionally, the transition brings the agency \u201cone step closer to [their] goal of phasing out the use of commercial hotels for families\u201d while \u201cproviding safe and dignified settings for men experiencing homelessness.\u201d<\/p>\n
But some neighbors say they believe the change in shelter population could impact the community. Resident Valentin Mokrov said he is especially concerned about the shelter\u2019s proximity to nearby families and children.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were frustrated – especially in the proximity of our kids’ playground. I don’t feel safe anymore. Not only for kids, but for our neighborhood,\u201d Mokrov said.<\/p>\n
City data shows reported crime in the area is down 6% year to date, with 687 incidents reported. Still, some community members continue to push back, including Council Member Inna Vernikov, who has called the location \u201cpoorly suited\u201d in an X post earlier this month and is advocating for a relocation.<\/p>\n
Some neighbors say their concerns are not about the people who need shelter, but rather the placement of the facility. Neighbor Dennis said he believes the shelter could impact the neighborhood.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t have anything against those people, and I understand they have a place in there somewhere in the community – but this actually brings the value of the neighborhood down,\u201d Dennis said.<\/p>\n
As residents prepare to protest, they say they hope their concerns will lead to a new conversation with city officials.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope that the decision will be not only postponed, the decision will be canceled,\u201d Mokrov said.<\/p>\n
Ahead of the protest, the Department of Social Services tells News 12 that it will continue following the city\u2019s Right-to-Shelter mandate while working with neighbors through a community advisory board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A planned transition from a family shelter to a single men\u2019s shelter in Sheepshead Bay is sparking concern…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-298194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298194","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=298194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}