Mayor Adams’ administration ought to put a cease to all new building of homeless shelters within the 5 boroughs, in response to two Metropolis Council leaders.
In a Friday letter to Adams’ price range director, Jacques Jiha, Council Finance Committee Chairman Justin Brannan and Council Oversight Committee Chairwoman Gale Brewer wrote that such a moratorium is important to show the tide on a regarding pattern they’ve observed whereby actual property builders are opting to construct shelters as an alternative of reasonably priced housing.
The 2 lawmakers argued a shelter building moratorium needs to be in place at the very least till the conclusion of a set of ongoing investigations referring to the Adams administration’s actual property and shelter practices, together with a Manhattan DA probe scrutinizing the Division of Citywide Administrative Companies’ industrial leasing program.
Spokespeople for the mayor’s workplace didn’t instantly return requests for touch upon the moratorium demand.
For instance of the difficulty at hand, Brannan, who represents a piece of southern Brooklyn that features Coney Island, pointed to an reasonably priced housing challenge in Marine Park that was not too long ago switched right into a shelter growth.
Samaritan Village Forbell homeless shelter in Brooklyn. (Shawn Inglima/New York Every day Information)
Brannan and Brewer additionally argued of their letter that Adams’ administration ought to improve transparency on how a lot town pays main actual property corporations like Bayrock in lease for working shelters on their websites. Brannan, who’s working for metropolis comptroller on this yr’s native elections, stated that’s notably necessary at a time that Adams’ administration is reeling from an internet of scandals, together with the mayor’s personal federal corruption indictment.
“With an administration awash in corruption, taxpayers deserve to better understand what exactly is happening here,” Brannan stated.
In the end, Brannan and Brewer wrote they’re inspired by the Adams administration’s deal with growing extra housing by, amongst different issues, working with the Council to go the “City of Yes” rezoning plan.
“However,” they added, “we want to express our concern that the way this administration handles deals with developers of affordable housing vs. of homeless shelters is undermining the good work we have done together.”
