On Friday, March 22, Assemblyman William Colton (D—Gravesend, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach and Dyker Heights) and City Councilmember Susan Zhuang (D--Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, Gravesend, Dyker Heights, Boro Park and Sunset Park) visited City Hall to deliver petitions containing approximately 52,000 signatures in opposition to the planned homeless shelter in their districts.

“We have already gotten a huge number of signatures from area residents who are opposed to this poorly planned shelter,” said Assemblyman Colton. “It is the wrong project in the wrong location, because it would negatively impact the neighborhood while creating a substantial obstacle to the real solution – affordable permanent housing and appropriate services to help homeless people in our communities to get their lives back on track.”

“Last week, thousands of members of our community came together to say no to a human warehouse at the 2501 86th Street location which is next to our schools, daycare centers and senior centers, and to say yes to other methods of addressing homelessness,” said Councilmember Zhuang. “This starts with creating more jobs, expanding our mental health services, and building more affordable housing, low-income housing and senior housing. We need programs that will help support those in need to get the support they need. We must be better in how we spend taxpayer money on addressing the issue of homelessness.”

The developer of the site is Tejpal Sandhu of 86^th Street NY LLC, who was the developer behind the shelter originally planned for 2147 Bath Avenue that Assemblyman Colton helped derail. According to Assemblyman Colton, the Sandhu Group makes a practice of building so-called hotels in unexpected locations then leasing them to the city at a cost of thousands of dollars per resident per month, all coming from taxpayer dollars.

In this case, Sandhu has filed papers with the city’s Department of Buildings to construct a 32-room hotel with a community facility attached; the city notified the prior councilmember for the area that it plans to use the site as a shelter for 150 single men, many of whom struggle with addiction or mental health issues.

Assemblyman Colton and Councilmember Zhuang have been mobilizing and solidifying opposition to the shelter for months. Last month, they launched a task force focused on stopping the homeless shelter from opening at the location.A week ago, they held a rally at the site, which drew thousands of protesters. Some of the community leaders of the task force joined Assemblyman Colton and Councilmember Zhuang in making the petition presentation.

“This fight will not stop until the proposed shelter is stopped,” Assemblyman Colton promised.