NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Residents of Manhattan’s Chinatown protested a proposed homeless shelter—one of four more they say are planned for the area, which currently has six.
At Thursday evening's protest on Mott Street, demonstrators chanted “no more shelters” and “Chinatown, not shelter-town.”
Residents want Community Board 2 to oppose the plan for the shelter, which would be at the former Bowery Hanbee Hotel at 231 Grand St. If approved, it could open in the next few months.
“Chinatown and the Lower East Side is oversaturated with homeless shelters. We have six already. There are proposed four more,” said rally organizer Susan Lee, of the Alliance for Community Preservation and Betterment.
Some fear the shelter will lead to more anti-Asian hate crimes, which have surged in the city. At a community board meeting Thursday, resident Brian Chin said over Zoom that he doesn’t want to see a repeat of what happened to neighbor Christina Yuna Lee, who was fatally stabbed by a homeless man who allegedly followed her into her Chrystie Street apartment in February.
“For CB2 and the city to suggest to put one of the biggest homeless shelters in the city less than one block away from this horrific murder is just astounding to me,” Chin said.
New York State Supreme Court Justice Doris Ling-Cohan was among the demonstrators at Thursday's protest.
“We change our life every day because we are scared, and this putting another shelter in our neighborhood when we have six is an affront to our community,” Ling-Cohan said.
The plan is for a 24/7 facility where homeless drug addicts can come in and safely inject in what’s called a “harm reduction” model. Advocates and the city say a facility like this is exactly what is needed to cut down on attacks by the homeless and also keep the homeless themselves out of harm’s way after recent attacks on homeless men in Lower Manhattan.
Linda Moi, a parent of a student who attends school in the neighborhood, noted that the shelter would allow Level 1 and 2 sex offenders to occupy beds.
“There's a daycare center across the street. Churches, senior centers, multiple elementary schools are all within blocks of this shelter location,” Moi said. “Residents already live in fear. Seniors don't go for their evening strolls. Businesses closing early so their workers can get home safely. Schools have asked for additional patrols around their campuses.”
Jennie Ma and her family live next door to the planned site, which served as a temporary homeless shelter last summer.
“We’ve had people urinating and defecating on our doors,” Ma said. “So this is not, 'They’re going to go inside, they’re going to use their drugs, they’re going to leave the community alone.'”
A deputy commissioner with the city’s Social Services Department said at a recent community board meeting that there are at least 150 people living on the streets of Chinatown.
Corinne Low, co-founder of Open Hearts Initiative, said there has been misinformation about the shelter and that only two of the four are being proposed in Chinatown. Low believes the shelter would make the entire community safer since it'd serve homeless people already living there.
“The one that the protest was against last night on Grand Street is a drop-in center and stabilization bed site that is exactly designed to serve people who are already sleeping unsheltered in the community,” Low said. “This is going to offer them a place where they can drop in, get services, take a shower, have a hot meal use the bathroom and hopefully stay for the night in a private, dignified accommodation.”
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