Residents of a West 95th Street building are waking up today to find the first of 200 homeless families to be their new neighbors, in a move that community leaders said came with little warning.
Department of Homeless Services Commissioner Seth Diamond broke the news yesterday morning that families were being moved into the first 10 emergency-shelter units at 316 W. 95th St. later in the day.
Over the next few months about 200 families — roughly 400 people — are expected to move into that building and 330 W. 95th St., where 71 residents already dwell.
“We’re absolutely furious about it,” said one neighbor, Leonard Peters, 66. “No one was told anything at all.”
The city notified Community Board 7 of its plan on July 19, triggering a series of letters and meetings, including Diamond’s sit-down yesterday with Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, Councilwoman Gale Brewer and others.
Diamond spokeswoman Heather Janik, said the agency has “been actively communicating with elected officials from the beginning of this process.”
Stringer said all New Yorkers should share in relieving homelessness, but he ripped “abruptly moving a 400-person shelter into a residential neighborhood” with “no community consultation, no contract and no long-term plan.”