After a contentious Community Board 7 meeting on Tuesday night, housing organization Help USA confirmed Wednesday that they were pulling out of plans for a long-term contract with the Department of Homeless Services.
The contract would have established a women’s shelter to operate out of 237 W.107th St., a “single room occupancy” building that was known until recently as the West Side Inn.
Help USA President and CEO Larry Belinsky, Business ’91, said in an interview that the organization pulled out of the deal at the last minute after learning about the ownership structure of the building. “The person who purported to us to be the owner was not the owner. … The building is owned by a corporate entity.”
“We discovered some things that were not as presented to us by DHS. Those things caused us concern,” Belinsky said.
Help USA, a national organization that builds and operates transitional and low-income housing, was supposed to make an informational presentation at
CB7 about plans for a new local shelter, but informed the community board that they would not be attending at the last minute.
Committee member Miki Fiegel said that SRO buildings like 237 West 107th St. are generally made up of rent-stabilized units, meaning that residents may pay relatively little per month, while the city provides almost $3,000 per month for a room as a DHS shelter.
For that reason, landlords have a financial incentive to pressure tenants to leave.
Kathy Lanois, president of the 107th Street Block Association and long-time neighborhood resident said, “I’ve never met the owner, but I was told he doesn’t care a damn. He’s just a greedy person that wants money. That was a very nice ... inn ... where the tourists would come, and they paid him good money. But the city is paying him three times more.”
Politicians have also begun fighting the plan. Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito said in a statement that she would not be supporting the shelter.
“Based on the information I have learned, particularly about the history of this building and landlord, I cannot support the current plan to open a transitional homeless shelter on West 107th Street,” she wrote. “I have contacted the Department of Homeless Services to express my concerns with the plan and will work to schedule a meeting with the Department so that the issues raised by the surrounding community can be heard and addressed.”
The building’s website continues to advertise the site as a hostel with temporary guests. But the building is currently registered as containing SRO units, according to certificates of occupancy on the New York Department of Housing website, a status that categorizes the building as residential housing.
Belinsky said in an interview that Help USA was contacted by the Department of Homeless Services around two weeks ago and asked to open an annex for homeless women in the building in question. “They had a building that a landlord had offered to them, and they were in a bit of a jam,” he said.
“We typically have a very high standard for what we look for and what type of sites we operate,” he said. “Probably this would not have happened if we were part of the site selection committee.”
Though Help USA does not plan to continue in a long term agreement with DHS, they will continue to temporarily occupy the annex. “We will provide supportive services, case management, services for the women there, as part of our agreement. The maintenance of the building and security are the responsibility of the landlord as part of their agreement with DHS,” Belinsky said.
“I don’t anticipate that there will be issues with the landlord, because I think that ultimately, the landlord’s interest is to get a long term contract from DHS,” he added.
The DHS did not respond to requests for comment, and a receptionist at West Side Inn said the manager was not available.
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