Community Board Opposes Shelter Plan; Calls for Citywide Siting Standards
Community Board 1 (CB1) is condemning a controversial plan by the administration of Mayor Eric Adams to open a new homeless shelter at 320 Pearl Street, adjacent to the Peck Slip School. In a resolution enacted at its May 27 monthly meeting, CB1 also demands a complete overhaul of the system for siting homeless shelters, calling for a legal ban on such facilities within 500 feet of any school. If implemented, such a ban would replicate similar prohibitions that regulate the locations of establishments that serve liquor, as well as cannabis dispensaries.
The resolution notes that CB1 “strongly opposes the siting of a low-barrier safe haven men’s shelter at 320 Pearl Street, adjacent to Peck Slip Elementary School, demands that the proposed shelter be relocated to an alternative site, and calls on… all relevant City agencies to immediately suspend this shelter placement and disqualify this site from future shelter use, given its direct proximity to an active elementary school and the City’s prior rejection of a more appropriate alternative, such as a family shelter.”
The same measure adds, “the City’s repeated failure to implement meaningful shelter siting reforms, and the critical importance of protecting school environments… demands a permanent policy prohibiting the siting of any low barrier and/or safe haven model homeless shelters within 500 feet of any school, consistent with existing regulations for on-premise liquor licenses and cannabis establishments, to protect school communities citywide.”
Referring to the repeated declarations by CB1 that it would welcome family shelters in the community (rather than facilities for single, adult men), Tricia Joyce, chair of CB1’s Youth and Education Committee, said that Adams administration officials had argued, “they could not site a family shelter there because of the way they site shelters, which is do the real estate deal first, and then go looking for the data. That determines which kind of shelter is needed in a particular spot.”
CB1 member Eric Yu said of the proposed 500-foot ban, “I think it makes sense. It’s only 500 feet, and I don’t want to take any chances. This is the protocol that is prescribed for other businesses, and a homeless shelter really is a business.”
Taking a stand against the resolution, however, CB1 member Richard Corman argued, “shelters are not a business,” and reflected, “I’ve been very proud of this board, and its positions around welcoming shelters and recognizing the need for them in our community. But I think this resolution flies in the face of the spirit of the position that this board has taken from the beginning. Clearly we’re frustrated with the city in this particular instance.”
“Shelter is a social need for the city,” Mr. Corman continued, “a social need for every one of us. And so what does [a regulation about distance between schools and shelters] do to our ability to enact a social good? We haven’t thought this through. This is not the answer.”
CB1 member Susan Cole argued, “it is a business. The landlords are renting out to the non-profit. You have to understand that.” The landlord, in this case, is Slate Property Group, which began buying shelters and sites on which to develop new homeless facilities in 2020, ultimately spending more than $300 million on these acquisitions. The firm now operates ten homeless shelters across Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens. It recently refinanced the debt underpinning this portfolio with a $210 million loan from JP Morgan Chase.
According to public records, Slate Property Group pays $10,000 per month to Oaktree Solutions, a lobbying firm co-founded by Frank Carone, the former chief of staff to Mayor Adams. This fee is for representing Slate’s interests to City agencies, such as those responsible for deciding where to site homeless shelters.
When the roll was called at CB1’s May 27 meeting, the resolution demanding cancellation of plans for a shelter at 320 Pearl and calling for new citywide regulations to ban shelters near schools, was enacted, with 29 votes in favor, five opposed, and five abstentions.