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Q&A
Council member Brannan questions Commissioner Park about shelter conversions and community outreach
1:59:06
·
170 sec
Council Member Justin L. Brannan poses questions to Commissioner Molly Wasow Park about the Department of Homeless Services' plans to convert migrant shelters into regular shelters and the associated community outreach efforts. The discussion covers the agency's approach to shelter siting, community engagement, and concerns about transitioning supportive housing to shelters.
- Commissioner Park explains the agency's commitment to reducing hotel use for shelters and the process of community engagement after procurement.
- Concerns are raised about a specific case of potentially converting supportive housing into a shelter, which the Commissioner agrees to investigate further.
- The exchange highlights the challenges of balancing the need for shelter space with community concerns and the importance of maintaining existing supportive housing.
Justin L. Brannan
1:59:06
I have a question from council member Banks, chair of our public housing committee.
1:59:12
He had to leave.
1:59:13
In his district, it appears DHS is planning to convert two formerly designated migrant shelters into a 112 bed shelter for single men.
1:59:24
This is at 272 And 268 Williams Avenue.
1:59:30
The question is how is the agency conducting community outreach regarding these changes?
1:59:35
Specifically, what efforts are being made to inform residents, gather their feedback, and understand the community's perspective on how these transitions may impact the neighborhood?
Molly Wasow Park
1:59:46
Thank you.
1:59:47
And we can certainly follow-up offline on specific addresses, but generally with respect to shelter citing, our commitment is to make sure that we have sufficient shelter to meet our legal and moral mandate to provide shelter to all in need, and we are very aggressively looking to get out of paying hotel rates, paying a night by night rate.
2:00:10
We're in more than 16,000 hotel rooms.
2:00:13
It is a significant expense for the city, so we are looking.
2:00:18
Although we want to decrease the size of the shelter census, it is a priority for us to be also reducing the number of hotels and replacing them with contracted shelters.
2:00:29
Occasionally we do look at converting hotels, but generally speaking our policy is that we are looking at the need for shelter space, looking at what already exists in the community, accepting proposals through our open ended RFP.
2:00:48
As we go through the process there's a limited amount of engagement that we can do before procurement happens, but after procurement happens we always engage with the community.
2:01:00
We do a formal notification.
2:01:01
We'll have a community board meeting if they would like.
2:01:05
Every site has a community advisory board, But our goal is to make sure that we have safe, secure spaces that are cost efficient for the city and located across the city consistent with need.
Justin L. Brannan
2:01:21
Council member Banks also is also concerned about another shelter in his district that's set to open where it's apparently transitioning from a supportive housing facility to a full on shelter.
2:01:33
Isn't that going backwards?
Molly Wasow Park
2:01:36
I'm gonna need to do the address.
2:01:38
It is absolutely our policy not to take housing out of the housing stock and particularly supportive housing.
Justin L. Brannan
2:01:45
Alright.
2:01:46
I'll make sure his
Molly Wasow Park
2:01:46
team follows follow-up on the address there.
Justin L. Brannan
2:01:49
Okay.
2:01:50
Thank you.
2:01:50
I'm turning it back to oh, okay.
2:01:54
I'm back to council member Evulus.