NYC opening homeless shelter 5 feet from a grade school, outraging parents
The city is quietly planning to open a homeless shelter that could house junkies and ex-cons just five feet from the door of a lower Manhattan elementary school, The Post has learned.
The city Department of Social Services waited until June 13 to notify local elected officials and community board members of its controversial blueprint to convert a former Hampton Inn at 320 Pearl St. in the shadow of the South Street Seaport into a 106-bed “safe haven” shelter attached to the Peck Slip School.
It will be a “low-barrier” facility, meaning sobriety, criminal records and other obstacles typically used to screen residents for the neighborhood’s safety could be lifted.
Meanwhile, students and faculty begin summer break Wednesday, and the shelter is scheduled to open in the fall.
“They seem to want to push this through when no one is around,” raged a parent with a son in third grade. “We recognize that many neighborhoods have shelters – but not attached to a school.”
Peck Slip parents and students didn’t get the shocking news until June 19 — and only after it was confirmed by members of the pre-K-5 school’s PTA.
Parents said the shelter plan is particularly galling, given the sheer number of unhinged homeless people roaming Gotham’s streets.
“There’s so many homeless people suffering from mental illness, and sometimes those who are mentally ill can be aggressive,” said a parent with a daughter in pre-K. “So having [a shelter] occupy the same space as a public school raises concerns.”
“There’s so many empty hotels, so many empty buildings, empty things that you could find somewhere else for this to go,” barked Kenny Grant, who also has a kid in pre-K.
The future shelter is also just 55 feet from an unfenced play area used by students daily during recess.
Breaking Ground, a nonprofit, will run the shelter.
It has similar contracts to run “safe haven” shelters citywide as part of a yearly $300 million-a-year investment by Mayor Adams to expand outreach and programs aimed at getting mentally ill homeless people off streets and the subway.
In a letter to parents, the Peck Slip PTA said “these type of facilities are usually single sex and predominantly support men who are experiencing homelessness.
“We believe that if a shelter must open at that location it must be a family shelter,” the letter added.
DSS spokesperson Nicholas Jacobelli said Friday that Breaking Ground will provide round-the-clock, on-site security — with cameras and guards — to help assure the new residents are good neighbors.
“We remain committed to maintaining open lines of communication with the community, working collaboratively to support our vulnerable neighbors, and addressing any concerns as they arise,” Jacobelli said.
In a June 13 letter to Community Board 1 District Manager Zach Boomer defending the plan, DSS Chief Strategy Officer Christopher Gonzalez said “it is critical that we site these low-barrier beds across the City and particularly in areas which have traditionally had concentrations of unsheltered clients.”
