New York City approved plans for an all-male homeless shelter in the middle of the residential South Shore of Staten Island \u2013 proof of Mayor Mamdani\u2019s hatred for the forgotten and conservative borough, locals told The Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fed-up residents believe the 160-bed shelter coming to the corner of Arthur Kill and Richmond Valley Road in Charleston will bring crime, drugs and loitering, and see the move as yet another insult <\/a>from the socialist mayor.<\/p>\n \u201cA hundred percent he wants to screw us because we vote conservative,\u201d said Bruce Daniele, whose gym business Intoxx Fitness is across the street from the planned shelter.<\/p>\n The South Shore of Staten Island voted heavily for Andrew Cuomo in the 2025 mayoral election.<\/p>\n Local businesses have been circulating a petition against the shelter. Leonardo Munoz for NY Post<\/p>\n The shelter will house employed and unemployed single men, and provide services to help them find jobs and \u201cstabilize their lives,\u201d the city Department of Homeless Services told The Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n The city confirmed the plans on March 5 \u2013 the same day Hizzoner announced the Bellevue men\u2019s shelter in Manhattan will be shuttering<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf the goal is to help people stabilize their lives and find employment, placing a large shelter in what\u2019s essentially a transit desert makes no sense,\u201d Republican Councilman Frank Morano told The Post.<\/p>\n The city-approved site is on the corner of Arthur Kill and Richmond Valley Road. Leonardo Munoz for NY Post<\/p>\n The borough\u2019s South Shore is largely middle-class and residential, with few social services and poor transit options. The only train station is a 20-minute walk from the shelter site, and buses can take 90 minutes to reach Manhattan.<\/p>\n A petition against the shelter has received hundreds of signatures.<\/p>\n Local leaders said they are still in the dark about the facility, which will be overseen by nonprofit Community Housing Innovations (CHI) and is set to open in mid-2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n Borough President Vito Fossella said that former Mayor Eric Adams told him that no shelter would be built in Charleston. Brigitte Stelzer<\/p>\n They said they have not seen any renderings of the proposed four-story building or been told how much it will cost taxpayers.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m hoping that politics are not at play here,\u201d Borough President Vito Fossella told The Post. \u201cBut the snow storm and not getting any 2-K seats \u2013 getting this homeless shelter . . . it\u2019s three strikes in a row.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He was referring to complaints the city was slow to clear borough streets after the late-February blizzard<\/a>, and Mamdani\u2019s 2-K pilot program<\/a> that will put classrooms in every borough but Staten Island.<\/p>\n Locals are furious about shelter plans and say the location is not fit for 160 homeless men. Leonardo Munoz for NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cIt seems like we\u2019re forgotten for all the good stuff, but we\u2019re remembered for the bad stuff,\u201d Morano said.<\/p>\n The project\u2019s developers bought the property in 2023 under Richmond Valley LLC, but public records show the company is tied to the Sandhu Group \u2013 which owns hotels the city used to house migrants.<\/p>\n Filings submitted to the city describe the building as a \u201chotel and community center\u201d \u2014 not a homeless shelter. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was a bait and switch,\u201d Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis told The Post. At first, the site was supposed to be a transient hotel \u2014 which locals also opposed \u2014 and then rumors of a shelter emerged.<\/p>\n The approved shelter site is next to small businesses and minutes away from homes. Google Maps<\/p>\n But Fossella said that former Mayor Eric Adams assured him last year that a shelter would not be built on that corner. \u201cThe city lied to the public,\u201d Malliotakis reflected.<\/p>\n \u201cA hotel and a homeless shelter are not the same thing,\u201d Morano said. \u201cIf this project was approved under one classification but is being implemented as another, that raises serious questions about transparency and whether the proper procedures were followed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The shelter is a minutes-walk away from three children\u2019s dance studios and homes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf this gets done, I\u2019d consider moving,\u201d one neighbor and business owner told The Post. \u201cThere\u2019s a gymnastics school right here, there\u2019s dance studios down the block. This is not the proper environment for homeless men.\u201d<\/p>\n Staten Island locals believe Mamdani is penalizing the borough for being conservative. Lone Pine Press for NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t see how I can possibly operate safely,\u201d said Gail Criscione, the owner of Starstruck dance studio, a five-minute walk from the shelter site and where 1,000 students file in and out until 11 p.m., she explained.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m just thinking about my girls at night.\u201d<\/p>\n Staten Island officials have demanded a public hearing \u2014 arguing that residents have the right to weigh in on what happens in their own community.<\/p>\n \u201cOur residents do not deserve this shelter, but they\u00a0certainly\u00a0deserve the opportunity to be heard. And, they deserve to have their voices heard\u00a0as soon as possible,\u201d Fossella said.<\/p>\n The mayor\u2019s office and the Sandhu Group did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City approved plans for an all-male homeless shelter in the middle of the residential South Shore…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":672566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,32459,7265,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,9294,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969,5301],"class_list":{"0":"post-672565","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-homeless-shelters","10":"tag-homelessness","11":"tag-metro","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-staten-island","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-us-news","25":"tag-usa","26":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116269886021272160","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}