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| photo courtesy of Matthew Hall |
A demonstration against the homeless families shelter that is opening across the street from Foodtown drew about seventy people tonight (Monday). Protesters handed the flier above to people passing by. The alleged "facts" in it aren't based on any information that our community has been given.
From City Councilmember Brad Lander's website:
"that shelter [in Park Slope] is larger and is for single women with histories of substance abuse and mental illness. That is not the plan for 385 McDonald Avenue, which will only shelter families with children."
From the website of CAMBA, the non-profit organization operating the shelter:
"CAMBA’s new Family Shelter in Central Brooklyn is funded by New York City Department of Homeless Services and offers families a supportive, structured therapeutic, safe, and drug-free facility.
It provides comprehensive case management services to 64 families who are in a transitional residence program for homeless families."
The shelter is a temporary home for families with children who want to transition to a permanent home. In spite of what someone wrote on the flier, the shelter is NOT a home for the mentally ill or drug abusers or criminals of any kind, including sexual predators. It's a home for parents and their children--babies through pre-school age.
Those descriptions are designed to make us afraid of people who, for the moment, don't have a home. Maybe their rent was increased too much, maybe they got burned out of their home, maybe they lost their job, their home got foreclosed on.... We don't know each person's circumstances. We just know that they need a roof over their heads.