State Senator Joe Addabbo Jr. at Thursday’s rally. Photos by Carol Chen.
By CAROL CHEN
RICHMOND HILL — Dozens of residents, business owners and faith leaders gathered at the corner of 118th Street and Jamaica Avenue last Thursday afternoon to oppose a proposed homeless shelter for 127 single adult men, arguing that the site sits too close to schools and that the city has not informed nor consulted with the neighborhood.
The proposed shelter site is located at 118-08 Jamaica Avenue, a vacant lot between 118th Street and Lefferts Boulevard. Permits filed last year describe a five-story building of about 50 feet with roughly 127 beds and a stop-work order is in place. The city has said the facility would be operated by VIP Community Services and is slated to open in 2027.
The rally was organized by Queens Community Board 9 after a meeting between the city and residents, originally scheduled for June 4, was canceled.
“They have come with this, not as a proposal, but as a done deal, and they want to force us to accept this as they have done in other communities,” said Sherry Algredo, the board’s chairwoman. “We’re here, we’re speaking out, and we’re not going to stop.”
Three of the area’s elected officials addressed the crowd, each saying they had received little information from the city and thus opposed the shelter in its proposed location.
Councilmember Lynn Schulman, who represents the district at city hall, said she had not been briefed on the project and called the lot the wrong site, noting that it is a small parcel for a building meant to house 127 people. She added that the property’s owner holds other sites in Brooklyn and Staten Island also being converted into shelters, and said she would work with colleagues in those districts to press for community input.
Assemblymember David Weprin said the location sits in the middle of a concentrated school zone, near PS 51, the Queens Elementary School, and PS 56, the Harry Eichler School, with a third school planned nearby.
“This is what happens when we’re left in the dark,” added State Senator Joe Addabbo Jr. “This is what happens when we don’t have input.” Addabbo said he had seen similar disputes elsewhere in his district, such as Middle Village and Ozone Park, and emphasized that no ground should be broken before the city answers residents’ questions.
Residents and business owners at the rally echoed this sentiment.
“I don’t think anybody here is against a homeless shelter, but we need to have our voices heard,” said Crystal Rivera, the education committee chair for Community Board 9. She said the residents might accept a family shelter or affordable housing on the block if the city were willing to discuss it.
In a statement, a Department of Social Services spokesperson described the shelter as part of an “equitable shelter siting approach” meant to ensure every neighborhood has safety-net resources, and said it would be the first traditional Department of Homeless Services shelter in the council district. According to DSS, VIP Community Services would staff the building around the clock, install cameras across the property, run community patrols, and operate a 24-hour line for neighbors’ complaints.
“As always, we remain committed to maintaining open lines of communication, addressing concerns as they arise, and prioritizing the safety of clients, staff, and members of the community,” the DSS spokesperson wrote in a statement.
Parents and educators focused on the proximity of the shelter to nearby schools, citing safety concerns for children. Paul Trust of the Richmond Hill Block Association, a father of three and an educator, said “We have Richmond Hill High School right here. The girls tend to self-dismiss. It’s just creating a safety concern on top of a corridor that already has major safety concerns.”
Several business owners in the area said existing conditions on the avenue are already negatively impacting their businesses and are worried about the impact of an additional shelter. Rossella Muto, whose family has run a pizzeria in the neighborhood for roughly 52 years, said she regularly deals with people in crisis and worried a large shelter would intensify those problems. Prat Selvachandran, who has owned the Sri Lankan restaurant Spicy Lanca for 12 years, said some customers now wait in their cars because they feel unsafe.
The rally drew a visibly diverse crowd, including local faith leaders who collectively opposed the building of a shelter on the proposed lot. Representatives of the Sikh Cultural Society, whose temple draws thousands of worshippers blocks away, stood alongside pastors, a rabbi and members of the Jamaica Rotary Club, with several the national motto, “out of many, one.”
Joseph Carpenter, a lifelong resident attending with his children, wanted oversight details and a pause: “We’re totally in the dark here, and that doesn’t seem right to me.”
