The following letter is in response to Council Speaker Julie Menin’s opposition to the proposed shelter at 1587 Third Avenue. The specific proposal has not yet been made public. Our letter supports providing shelter at this location; it does not endorse specific details that have not yet been released. Add your name here or using the button below.

August 28, 2026

Dear Speaker Menin:

We are writing in response to your opposition to the proposed shelter at 1587 Third Avenue. As Upper East Side community members who live, work, and go to school in your district, we believe that our community must be part of New York City’s efforts to ensure every New Yorker experiencing homelessness has access to shelter. We welcome the opportunity to provide shelter in our neighborhood, and we believe that housed neighbors have an important role to play in making shelters a success–but should not have a veto over whether a shelter exists in our community.

We recognize that you have supported other shelter projects on the Upper East Side. We also understand that you have raised concerns about having a shelter at this particular site. We believe the focus should be on making shelters as safe, dignified, and effective as possible for the people who live in them. If a proposal falls short, we should push to make it better–not use its shortcomings as a reason to leave people without shelter.

We are deeply troubled by the suggestion that the presence of schools, children, families, seniors, or parks makes a neighborhood inappropriate for shelter. That framing suggests that people experiencing homelessness are incompatible with the other community members who live and spend time here. We reject that premise. Schools, childcare facilities, senior residences, and parks are found throughout New York City, including in many of the neighborhoods where shelters already operate. Their presence does not make a location inherently inappropriate for shelter. If we treat these features as reasons to rule out individual sites, much of the city would be considered “inappropriate” for shelter.  People experiencing homelessness are members of our community. They live, work, and access care within the Upper East Side just the same as the rest of us. We believe our city and our neighborhood are for everyone. Excluding unhoused community members from the resources in our neighborhood does little but further isolation and exacerbate challenges to accessing permanent housing. 

The people opposing this shelter do not speak for the entire Upper East Side. We are members of this community, and we welcome and support our unhoused neighbors. In fact, as one of the most well-resourced districts in the city, we believe that we are uniquely equipped to help meet the needs of neighbors experiencing homelessness, and it is our responsibility to do so. We want to make sure our perspective is part of this conversation, too. 

New Yorkers experiencing homelessness deserve access to shelter throughout the city. The Upper East Side is a neighborhood with tremendous resources and opportunities, and there is no reason that those resources should be reserved only for people who already have homes.

We want a future in which fewer New Yorkers need shelter. Getting there requires us to make housing more affordable so fewer people become homeless, while making it easier for people in shelter to move into permanent housing. Rejecting an individual shelter does neither. It doesn’t change how many people need shelter; it only makes it harder to meet the need that already exists.

We look forward to working with you to make the Upper East Side a welcoming community for all New Yorkers.

Sincerely,

Raven Abell, 10028 resident

R. Devarajan, 10128 resident

Shriya Gupta, 10128 resident

Rochelle Heinrichs, 10128 resident

Dylan Lyons, 10128 resident

Kate Masters, 10128 resident

Marian Swerdlow, 10028 resident

Frank Arigo, 10128 resident

Marlee Baron, 10128 resident

Erica Bersin, 10021 resident

Kira Brown, 10028 resident

Sarah Carey, 10128 resident

Jim Casteleiro, 10028 resident

Amanda Claudio, 10128 resident

Christa Clay, 10065 resident

Shannon Dohar, 10075 resident

Maureen Donohue, works in 10028

Jason Dumelie, 10128 resident

Max Edwards, 10128 resident

Lynn Ermann & Jonathan Ragle, 10021 residents

Amaya Escandon, 10021 resident

Sarah Freeman, 10128 resident

Mia Haraguchi, 10065 resident

Sara Hussain, 10021 resident

Jeron Impreso, 10028 resident

Mary, 10021 resident

Jon Mermelstein, works on the Upper East Side

Olivia Mignone, 10128 resident

Ashley Michelle Morales, 10128 resident

Paula Negro, 10065 resident

Kathryn O’Brien, 10128 resident

Rocío Roedtjer, 10128 resident

Nikita Sabade, 10028 resident

Hunter Sandlin, 10028 resident

Marcus Gauthier, 10028 resident

Erica Abela, 10028 resident

Kelly Haselschwerdt, 10128 resident

Seth Alan Durbin, UES resident