STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A trio of homeless shelters scheduled to open on Staten Island are facing more delays, according to city officials.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) said in late spring that all three shelters would open by the end of the year. However, the sites are now expected to open next year, according to a DHS spokesperson.
The shelter to house up to 100 men in Stapleton’s former New York Foundling building at 119 Tompkins Ave. is slated to open early next year, according to the spokesperson.
The other two shelter sites — at 1055 Hylan Blvd. in Grasmere, and a new structure being built in Tompkinsville at 44 Victory Blvd., which city officials now list the address as 1 Van Duzer St. -- are scheduled to open during 2023.
The site of a future homeless shelter in Tompkinsville is shown Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2022. (Staten Island Advance/Paul Liotta)
The Tompkinsville site under construction at the former Taco Bell/KFC location near Bay Street will house 200 families with children — an estimated 500 people. It is set to open early next year as one of the largest shelters in the city, said a DHS spokesperson.
The Grasmere site -- which will house 50 women over age 50 -- at a site previously containing doctors’ offices, isn’t expected to open until late next summer at the earliest.
A Wednesday visit to the Grasmere site saw the building has been mostly gutted as the city works to convert it to a habitable standard.
The site of a future homeless shelter in Grasmere is shown Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2022. (Staten Island Advance/Paul Liotta)
Former Mayor Bill de Blasio announced all three of the shelters during his tenure. He first announced the Tompkinsville site in early 2019, and announced the latter two shelters in March 2021.
All three of the sites, which are being developed “as-of-right,” have faced pushback from community members and local elected officials.
According to the Department of City Planning, “as-of-right” developments are compliant with existing zoning regulations, and only subject to a review from the Department of Buildings to confirm zoning and building code compliance.
Adding to the opposition, is the fact that the former New York Foundling site is in walking distance of three neighborhood school buildings — the Richard H. Hungerford School, PS 78 and I.S. 49, the Berta A. Dreyfus School, which also houses the Eagle Academy for the Young Men of Staten Island.
Illustration shows the proximity of a planned homeless shelter (blue) to four Stapleton schools (yellow). (Image courtesy: Google; Illustration: Paul Liotta/Staten Island Advance)
Despite consistent pushback from local elected officials and some community members, Mayor Eric Adams has pressed ahead with all three shelters even though he cancelled shelters in other parts of the city, including plans for one in the Morris Park neighborhood of the Bronx, and two Chinatown shelters, after facing similar opposition.
Adams has said his goal is to site city services, including homeless shelters, in a more equitable way after decades of concentration in certain neighborhoods, often the poorest in the city.
A fourth shelter is already in operation on Central Avenue.
All four shelters were part of former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 2017 “Turning the Tide on Homelessness, Neighborhood by Neighborhood” initiative that promised 90 new shelters across the five boroughs.
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