Open Hearts Initiative Executive Director Corinne Low on DHS Decisions on 47 Madison Street and 52 William Street

Today, the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) announced that they will not be moving forward with plans to open a Safe Haven site at 47 Madison Street. This announcement follows a recent decision by DHS to close a single-room site at the Financial District’s Radisson Hotel at 52 William Street in June 2022. In response to these developments, Corinne Low, co-founder and Executive Director of the Open Hearts Initiative, issued the following statement:

“I am deeply dismayed to see the city moving away from exactly the type of transitional housing sites that homeless New Yorkers have been asking for. 52 William Street has successfully kept homeless New Yorkers with disabilities safe during the pandemic by providing private rooms. 47 Madison Street is already far along in the planning process and has earned support from Community Board 3. How does Mayor Adams expect to meet his commitment to fund 1,400 Safe Havens and stabilization beds if he is closing down and failing to move forward with sites that already exist or are in the works? And what message does it send to the unsheltered New Yorkers who the city is trying to convince to come inside when the city abandons the types of sites they are touting? Caving to backlash will not placate opponents of housing and services for homeless New Yorkers–it will only embolden them. There are supportive community members who stand ready and waiting to welcome homeless neighbors, and many have shown immense courage speaking out in the face of backlash. We ask that the city show the same courage in standing by these sites.”