Roosevelt Island Homeless Issue Growing Concern Among Frustrated Residents At Lack Of Solutions - Community Member Has Idea For Showers, Bathrooms, Laundry & Social Services At Unused Coler Hospital Space

Reported previously on Roosevelt Island residents increasing concern and frustration with:

... a growing homeless population and no social service to speak of....

A long time member of the Roosevelt Island community puts forward an idea for discussion about the issue of homeless people on Roosevelt Island.

Recently I have been thinking about the growing transient and indigent population on the Roosevelt Island, both from the perspective of humane relief and from the perspective of the new issues imposed on the community -- community outreach and community response. I was entering the subway when the odor was overwhelming. I covered my nose and was reprimanded by a young woman for a lack of compassion. The cause of the odor this particular day was someone, a gentleman, I have often helped. I understand both concerns: the social justice concern, that every human is entitled to adequate shelter, and the pragmatic concern, that people fear the health/hygiene issues and related costs.

In response, I have tried to find a middle path that might address both the humanitarian concerns and the added cost imposed on a community, when there is a growing homeless population (I will refer to the latter in economic terms, as externalities, as such costs are shifted to the public budget, which is already stretched thin).

Recently a suggestion was floated that unused space in the hospital at the north end of the Island could be repurposed for beds. The community responded that this could create greater crime and health/hygiene issues. Too often public shelter facilities do not adequately address the longer term impact on the surrounding community. There are meaningful rights on both sides, and both need to be discussed and respected.

However, this proposal offers the opportunity to craft a modest solution: the unused hospital space could be repurposed to provide two showers, lavs, laundry and lockers. The facility could be open initially two days a week 8:00am to 8:00pm, and supervised with two personnel (a cleaning employee and a manager). Public Safety could be present to prevent potential victimization of the guests. Individually packaged toiletries could conceivably be solicited as "charitables" from corporate manufacturers. Towels would have to be worked out (as these present a hygiene issue). Los Angeles has pioneered a successful shower on wheels program through the work of private individuals. This could offer a model for humane relief throughout the city.



The space could also act as an information desk for outreach services, vocational training, mental health providers; it could provide clean clothing for living or potential job interviews; and it would be wonderful to have someone volunteer to cut hair one day a week.

The virtue of this is that it addresses two of the greatest concerns of the homeless in re-integrating into society: regular hygiene and safe storage. The lockers could be structured like bus station lockers, and the space could be designed and detailed such that loitering would not be an issue. I am not trying to create a living space, merely a comfort station. A substantial part of the alienation between homeless and community is the over hang of cleaning, the odor that keeps people from reaching out to talk, public use of gardens for human waste. The burden of such externalities is absorbed disproportionately by the community, and it generates resentment.

We could partner with established providers of services and request state and local funding. But more important, we could take a small step, as a compassionate and close-knit community, to address on a local level an issue that is at the forefront of social justice concerns nationally.

As an administrator I am not permitted to propose this personally, so i am posting it with Roosevelt Islander, on our public Bulletin Board. It is my hope that this might open a productive conversation on an issue of broad community concern.

During the February 5 Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) meeting Public Session, Common Council Member And NYC Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) member Frank Farance described participating in recent NYC Hope 2020 Homeless Count.

Mr Farance also addressed issue of homeless people on Roosevelt Island urging residents to call 311 who will send an NYC Homeless Outreach team to offer assistance to homeless individuals.

RIRA Common Council Member Kaja Meade asked what more can be done to get help to the homeless individuals on Roosevelt Island and reported hearing from residents who are getting increasingly frustrated by some homeless who:

... are being rude and unsafe...

RIRA Common Council Member Adib Mansour replied to Ms Meade saying he called 311 about a homeless issue in Manhattan near the Tram that was addressed by the 311 Homeless Outreach team. Mr Manosur suggested anyone calling 311 about a homeless issue obtain a code number for their tip and then follow up with the code number to our local politicians, NYC Council Member Ben Kallos and NY State Senator Jose Serrano, who have a stronger influence in getting something done. You can also contact NY State Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright.

Here's the RIRA homeless issue discussion.




Mr. Farance provides more info on his experience participating in the Hope 2020 NYC homeless count:

For the 5th year, I participated in the NYC DHS (Department of Homeless Services) City-wide HOPE 2020 annual count of homeless.

 Our team found 8 homeless people.

I was at the Hunter College location, which involved approximately 170 volunteers

and covers the Upper East Side, East Harlem, and all of Central Park. There were 27 sites around the City.

I believe I was the only CERT at this location, but I heard other CERTs were covering other locations. My team of six was comprised of very nice people, it was a real pleasure working with them as all of us took our efforts seriously, and we got to share experiences. Our team leader was Sarah, whose daytime job is working at a shelter. Sarah was an excellent leader, and it was great working for her.

Throughout the search several CERT techniques were in use, i.e., if you're a CERT, then you had training on how to do this better/safer.

CERT TECHNIQUES:
(1) Canvassing,
(2) Psychological First Aid,
(3) Interacting with the Public,
(4) Mental Health First Aid (MHFA),
(5) Personal Safety

The outside temperature was below freezing so it was CODE BLUE and, thus, our protocol is to make sure everyone is alive: if someone is sleeping we have to make sure they are alive (Hello or a nudge to see them move). Our turf was Central Park

 from 102 to 110 Street  

 We searched for several hours and found 16 people of which 8 were actually homeless people.

Our team of six would engage and try to encourage homeless people to take shelter at one of the drop-ins. Unfortunately, we were only successful getting one person to go to the shelter and we waited until he could be picked up by NYC DHS staff. I should mention that searching in Central Park - desolate and after midnight

 is a safety concern so NYC DHS provided an "escort" of NYC Parks Department staff, who were very pleasant, knowledgeable, and helpful.

Night time in Central Park is very different than day time: the perspectives and orientation are much easier during daytime, and night time in winter looks different because there are no leaves on trees. Even with GPS applications on smartphones, it can be disorienting because the visual cues - which would confirm/deny one's mapping of GPS position upon the ground truth - just look different.

When searching the Springbanks Arch tunnel we used the "Electric Tag" technique with the Buddy System: a chain of people such that every person has immediate visual sight of one's neighbors, but the first person in the chain doesn't necessarily see the last person. With this safety technique, if there were any safety issue, it would be immediately known, known by the whole team, and the whole team could respond ... rather than the non-buddy system where a person can disappear (or get injured) and no one knows about it or doesn't know where/when it occurred.

Upon completion of the canvassing, we turned back home with a stop at the Reservoir to snap nighttime selfies,

and arrived back at Hunter for debriefing and receiving our shirts and a Thank You letter from the Mayor.

We saw several raccoons during our search,

they were curious about us humans out at such a late hour. Like the raccoons, NYPD was in the park and was also curious about us humans out at such a late hour. We explained the HOPE search, they gave us some tips, and they extended courtesy and took the group photo.

I look forward to next year's count!

Mr  Farance adds:

I've noticed some homeless people on the Island at subway (inside and outside the turnstile) and the East Promenade at/near South Loop Road. You can have NYC DHS and their outreach team come. Just to be clear on expectations: the outreach team doesn't expect to be successful the first time, they need to build trust with the homeless person(s), and according to NYC DHS staff, they might need multiple trips to convince a person to go to a shelter.

More info



on Roosevelt Island homeless at this prior post.