UWS and Midtown Open Hearts Initiative Chapters Challenge Anti-Homeless Rhetoric and Condemn Council Member Gale Brewer's Opposition to Shelter Under Construction
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, September 12, 2023
CONTACT
Sara Newman, 646-907-9052, info@openheartsinitiative.org
UWS and Midtown Open Hearts Initiative Chapters Challenge Anti-Homeless Rhetoric and Condemn Council Member Gale Brewer's Opposition to Shelter Under Construction
Earlier today, a few Upper West Side community members rallied against a women’s shelter currently under construction at 537 W. 59th St. in a press conference that featured local City Council Member Gale Brewer. While the press conference was ostensibly to call for more supportive and affordable housing, it used exclusionary and dehumanizing rhetoric in an attempt to keep homeless New Yorkers from receiving shelter on the Upper West Side. In response, members of the Upper West Side and Midtown chapters of the Open Hearts Initiative reiterated their support and welcome to homeless New Yorkers and challenged the small group of shelter opponents to join them:
"I want to voice my support for this shelter to be welcomed in our neighborhood as a vital community resource. Shelter and housing are human rights. This is New York City, we have the resources to build stronger communities together. This shelter is a step toward preventing women from living on the streets. Please help support this vital shelter for our community," said Sarah Sachs, a resident of W. 57th St who lives near the shelter site.
“With such a large population of New Yorkers who need and deserve assistance, we must have all hands on deck to support our homeless neighbors. That means welcoming homeless New Yorkers to our neighborhoods by welcoming the services from which they will benefit. The choice for our neighborhood is not shelter or housing; we need shelter and housing,” said UWS Open Hearts chapter leaders Wendy Strauss, Anne Kemper, Gayle Meyer, and Candice Braun in a letter to Council Member Brewer.
"Today's press conference confirms what we already knew: Friends of Ederle Playground wants to keep homeless New Yorkers out of the Upper West Side. Council Member Brewer's decision to join these dehumanizing calls is deeply disappointing. The fact remains that the Upper West Side is a great place to welcome homeless residents of this shelter, where they can receive on-site services. We will continue to fight vigorously for emergency shelter capacity and permanent affordable housing, because both are desperately needed to meet this moment in our city's history," said Bennett Reinhardt, Open Hearts Advocacy Coordinator and Neighborhood Organizer.
