Say No To The Proliferation of Shelters, Drug Treatment, Supportive Facilities in Harlem
Say No To The Proliferation of Shelters, Drug Treatment, Supportive Facilities in Harlem
Why this petition matters
Please sign this petition to our elected officials supporting the construction of low income housing for families, seniors, disabled and veteran at 1727 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, New York.
Harlem should not have to bear the burden for the city homeless, mentally ill and drug addicted population. All communities in NYC should bear their fair share of services. Harlem is unduly burden with permanent, temporary, emergency shelters, transitional housing, safe haven, stabilization beds, supportive housing facilities, substance abuse programs, Harm Reduction facilities as well as sewer treatment plants and Bus Depots.
We are not taking a position against supportive housing, shelters and other needed services, we believe that Harlem should not have to bear the burden of the city homeless, drug addicted and mentally ill.
We want our elected officials to support the needs of the community and to understand that the oversaturation of facilities in Black/Brown and Immigrant communities has an economic impact on the community as businesses are forced hired additional security, to relocate or close and public safety.
Click on the link below to see the concentration of supportive housing
The concentration of facilities within 3 to 4 blocks of each other requires increase resources to mitigate the negative impacts on the community and overburden law enforcement.
The clustering of drug treatment facilities and supportive housing close to or across from schools places the children in danger and creates undo trauma.
Over saturation directly contribute to drug related criminal activities in Harlem and put undue burden on the police forces and merchants in Harlem. It puts the community and our children in danger and degrades our standard of living
1727 Amsterdam Supportive Housing Project was planned under the cover of night and imposed on the community without any community outreach and without taking into consideration the needs of the community. The Planning began in 2019. The community found out about this project by accident in September 2022 when construction began on the site. Considerable opposition to the 1727 Amsterdam Supportive Housing Project is developing as more and residents learn of this project. The project is now being branded as affordable housing.
145th Street between Broadway and St. Nicholas will have 434 Supportive housing units.
Heritage Health currently has 140 Supportive Housing units
Broadway Housing currently has 34 Supportive Housing units
The Aids Foundation will add another 140 Transitional and Supportive housing units
BRC 1727 Amsterdam Avenue Project will add another 120 Supportive housing units
This number does not include the shelters in that area.
In November 2022, 14,692 families with 21,089 children slept in DHS and HPD shelters each night.
The number of homeless individuals in shelter age 55+ increased by about 250% from 2004 to 2017 and the number of homeless individuals age 65+ increased over 300% during the same time period. Forecasts suggest that if nothing is done, by 2030 the homeless population over 65 will triple again, with similar gains in the homeless population over 55.
Source: https://www.nyc.gov/site/cidi/projects/aging-homeless-study.page
Manhattan Community Planning Board 9 has:
A Total Population of 127,022 residents. The median household income is $ 56,881.
94,452 residents have a median income of less than $ 57,000
46,949 residents have a median income of $44,197
47,502 residents have a median income of $56,881
Harlem needs low-income housing for families, seniors, disabled and veterans. We are proposing that 1727 Amsterdam be developed to include 3 key components:
Affordable commercial units on the ground floor for businesses
Affordable medical and community health office space above the ground floor
Low-income housing occupying the rest of the buildable space
Please support us to help local Harlem businesses, provide community healthcare, and house our Harlem elders by signing this petition.
Our goal is to balance compassion with the demand that Harlem should not have to bear the burden and that all communities take their fair share.
We Support 100% Low Income Housings for families, disabled, Seniors, veterans, and Fair Share.