New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced a plan on Friday, Feb. 18, to address the City’s worsening homelessness crisis, starting with the removal of those who are homeless from the City’s subway stations. “It is cruel and inhumane to allow unhoused people to live on the subway, and unfair to paying passengers and transit workers who deserve a clean, orderly, and safe environment,” the mayor said.

“The days of turning a blind eye to this growing problem are over.” But what comes after that? Where will those without housing or shelter go? The answer is pretty clear: the streets. One Bronx-based group is attempting to address street homelessness by providing new shelter support in the borough.

Planned for a mid-March opening, the shelter will accommodate 59 individuals, most likely men. The five-floor building is located at 2287 University Avenue in the University Heights neighborhood, about five blocks from the 183rd Street subway station. Tolentine Zeiser Community Life Center, now listed as closed, previously ran a housing shelter at 2345 University Avenue.

At Bronx Community Board 7 (CB7)’s housing committee meeting on Feb. 8, Erin Drinkwater, deputy commissioner at NYC Department of Social Services (DSS), provided an overview of the shelter which will be run by Bronx-based nonprofit, Acacia Network Housing, a subsidiary of the larger umbrella organization, Acacia Network,

Amarilis Soler, assistant vice president at Acacia Network Housing, will oversee the new project, along with James Baggett, the nonprofit’s project coordinator and Soler’s “number two person.” Baggett will supervise the shelter.

Other staff members may include Fernando Brinn, a consultant for Acacia Network and president and CEO of The Brinn Group, a business consulting, real estate development and community relations company, and Ravi Rampersaud, a program director at one of Acacia’s permanent housing sites.

Wow:

The MTA did a survey last month, found there were 29 homeless encampments in SUBWAY TUNNELS and another 89 in stations with more than 350 people living in them.

— Clayton Guse (@ClaytonGuse) February 24, 2022

In reference to work carried out to date across the borough by Acacia Network Housing, Soler said, “We have been providing services in the neighborhoods when nobody wanted to go into those neighborhoods.” She said Acacia manages affordable, supportive housing, and added, “We are experts in all the types of housing vouchers that are out there.”

According to Acacia Networks’ website, the organization currently manages 33 shelter locations in four of the City’s boroughs, serving around 750 families with children, adult families, and about 2,500 single people. It is the largest provider of shelter services for older adults in the City. “We have a lot of experience operating shelters, permanent housing for homeless individuals,” Soler said. “We have dealt with literally every population.”

The new University Heights shelter will provide a type of transitional housing known as “stabilization beds” to its clients. According to DSS, these are low-threshold, private rented rooms for clients experiencing long-term, unsheltered homelessness, where clients may stay until they are placed in permanent housing or in a long-term, transitional setting.

According to homeless outreach group, BRC, stabilization beds tend to be allocated to individuals who require transitional housing, but who have stable health and strong independent living skills. Experts who work with those who experience homelessness recognize that the structure and size of most shelters is unappealing to many New Yorkers experiencing chronic homelessness. Indeed, this is one of the reasons why it is sometimes difficult to convince them to accept shelter.

Another type of transitional housing are safe havens. These usually have fewer people / beds, according to BRC, and operate under a modified harm reduction philosophy. Though encouraged, sobriety is not required, rules are minimal, and structure is limited.

Collectively, there are around 3,000 stabilization bed and safe haven shelters in New York City, 1,200 of which were created under the de Blasio administration. Meanwhile, according to the most recent NYC Department of Homeless Services (DHS) shelter report, out of the roughly 45,000 individuals who live in shelters across New York City, around 1,300 individuals live in safe haven shelters.

Acacia Network was in the news in March 2021, after a rally was organized by members of the union SEIU32J who were also workers at various shelters operated by Acacia. The protestors demanded more protections like PPE and said the rally was the culmination of a year-long battle amid the pandemic for better protections against COVID-19, and first requested in March 2020, when PPE was in short supply globally.

Norwood News reached out to Acacia Network to ask for their comment on the matter, and the organization referred to DHS. A DHS spokesperson replied, saying, “As we emerge from this pandemic, every community must come together to support their fellow New Yorkers in need, which is why we continue to develop specialized resources for helping unsheltered individuals come off the streets and subways across our City, with thousands of such beds already serving vulnerable New Yorkers citywide.”

In terms of which clients will live at the new shelter, Acacia officials said referrals will come from DHS directly or from BronxWorks, another nonprofit which helps individuals and families improve their economic and social well-being by providing food, shelter, education, and support.

During the meeting, CB7 housing committee member, Myrna Calderon, said she still has concerns about the new shelter, adding that she had expressed concerns about the impact of affordable housing developments and shelters on the community at previous meetings. Indeed, opposition in 2017 to a previously planned men’s shelter, run by the nonprofit BRC, located at 233 Landing Rd, just north of the University Heights border, in adjacent Fordham Manor, was reported by Norwood News at the time. It was a core objective of the De Blasio administration in addressing homelessness. It is now an affordable housing complex for a mix of single people and families.

“I’m very concerned that, once again, the community is not included in these decisions,” Calderon said. “I don’t care what [you] want to call it. It’s another [men’s] shelter and the dangerous thing that you’re doing here… it is on the same block [as] two charter schools, a head start program… a preschool program,” she added.

Soler said there would be weekly recreational activities available for shelter clients, as well as an arts and culture program to help them feel comfortable inside the building. She added that Acacia also runs its own food pantry for its clients. “We want to keep our residents, as much as possible, in the building, engaged and entertained,” Soler said.

According to Acacia officials, the shelter will have a full team onsite, including a full-time program director, a social service team with a licensed clinical social worker, trained in mental health and emotional counseling, and a couple of substance use counselors. A full-time director of program operations will supervise the maintenance of the building, and security will be onsite supporting the team.

“We will have staff at the site around the clock,” Soler said. She added that there will also be three full-time senior case managers, assisting clients with housing and onsite recreational activities.

Acacia Network also operates seven health centers across the City which provide various health services to clients ranging from annual physical exams to behavioral health and substance use prevention programs. Soler said a driver will be available to transport clients to their appointments or to housing viewings so that they won’t have to take the train or bus or walk.

Another Acacia initiative is its “Health Home” program, which it operates in conjunction with Montefiore Hospital. The program provides comprehensive care coordination and care management services for Medicaid patients with complex combinations of chronic conditions and behavioral health disorders. Patients are assigned a dedicated care manager to provide intensive care management to help them navigate medical, mental health, substance use and social services systems.

As reported previously by Norwood News, the increased focus on providing housing to those affected by homelessness comes amid the recent release of a new audit by City Comptroller Brad Lander that identified what the nonprofit, Women in Need (WIN), called “glaring problems” with the Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing (PATH) intake center, located in The Bronx, and managed by DHS. WIN is the largest provider of shelter and supportive services to homeless families in New York City. It called on the City’s administration to reform PATH, as well as the application process for families experiencing homelessness. Norwood News reached out for comment on the audit to DHS but did not receive an immediate response.

Meanwhile, during the meeting, Bronx CB7 district manager, Ischia Bravo, also expressed concerns about the new shelter. Hers were about its proximity to local parks and schools, especially since there will, apparently, be no curfew for shelter clients, and they will be free to come and go for up to three days at a time.

Meanwhile, CB7 housing committee member, Sandra Erickson (who is vice president of the Bronx Chamber of Commerce) also worried about shelter residents needing medication and potential 911 emergencies. Soler addressed this point, saying shelter staff know to dial 911 when somebody needs medical attention.

Shane Cox, deputy commissioner with DHS, described who the intended shelter clients would be, saying, like others, it was built for individuals who live on the street who have historically been reluctant to enter traditional shelters. As a result, he said sites such as the one being discussed tended to be smaller, accommodating at most three people in a single room. “The clients who will really be prioritized for these sites tend to be a bit more independent, higher functioning,” Cox said.

He also explained that stabilization bed shelters don’t have restrictions on which boroughs the shelter clients come from, saying, “If this is a really appropriate place for somebody who’s in Queens, and they were willing to come up, then we would make the placement.”

Calderon said this was what worried her: people coming from as far away as Brooklyn or Staten Island to be housed in the local shelter. “Wherever they don’t want them, they wind up being housed here in The Bronx,” she said. “So, it’s not our people that are being put there.”

Soler sought to reassure residents, saying the shelter building, itself, is equipped with around a couple dozen security cameras and said security rounds would not only be carried out inside the building, but also outside to make sure that, with a small caveat, there would be no congregating or panhandling outside. “We cannot promise that we’re going to be going three blocks down, three blocks up, but definitely within the proximity of the building, every hour,” she said.

Acacia is also planning the forthcoming opening of two more shelters in Manhattan. Meanwhile, officials said there will be an opportunity for the local community to voice their feedback, publicly, on the new Bronx shelter at around the six-month mark, following the facility’s opening. Amid concerns by residents about safety and security, Cox summed up the presentation, by driving home one singular point which links back to the issue of dealing with homelessness on the City’s subways. “The goal is to get them inside,” Cox said. “The ultimate goal is permanent housing.”

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story. 

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.