A brownstone Brooklyn neighborhood is hoping Hurricane Sandy didn’t create a soft opening for an unwanted homeless shelter.
With Carroll Gardens residents already fighting plans to put a homeless shelter at 165-167 W. 9th St., the city today plopped 120 male veterans displaced during Hurricane Sandy into the vacant building.
The city says its temporary — for up to a month to house vets from a storm-damaged Long Island City shelter. But while neighborhood activists support assisting the vets, many say they’re concerned the move means the city will back a heavily opposed, long-term proposal to house a permanent, 170-bed shelter for men there once the vets leave.
Many are concerned a permanent shelter and the stroller-mom-laden neighborhood just don’t mix, and contend Bronx-based Housing Solutions USA, which has the lease to the site, wants to pack the homeless in like sardines to make a fast buck.
The city would pay the group more than $100 per bed a month to house the homeless.
“The site is meant to hold only 60 people,” said Maria Pagano, president of the Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association. “[Housing Solutions] is going after the biggest payday.”
Housing Solutions and the city’s Homeless Services Department could not be reached for comment.
The Institute for Community Living, which runs the hurricane-damaged Long Island City shelter, will temporarily run the Carroll Gardens site while the vets are there.
