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New Facility for Homeless Families Opening in Belmont, City Says

By Rachel Holliday Smith | March 16, 2017 6:11pm | Updated on March 17, 2017 10:25am

BELMONT — A new facility for homeless families is opening soon in the neighborhood, the city said, the fifth among 90 shelters to open citywide as part of an overhaul of the Department of Homeless Services.

The residence, located at a new building at 2346 Prospect Ave. in Belmont, will have a total of 34 apartments for families with children, according to the city and the property’s developer, Mark Stagg.

The building will have a mix of units occupied by homeless families and rental residents, he said, with 80 percent of the building set aside for families referred by DHS and 20 percent reserved for affordable housing, as previously reported by DNAinfo New York.

Service provider Bronx Parenting Housing Network will operate the site, Stagg said. The decision to make the building a residence for homeless families took place about eight week ago, he said.

“The need at City Hall has been so great. We all know what’s happening with the shelter population growing. To put them in a residence, to put them in a brand new building where they can cohabitate with working people, is a model that works,” he said.

The Belmont facility is one of 90 new shelters proposed by Mayor Bill de Blasio as part of a revamping of the city’s homeless housing system.

Only five of the 90 locations have been announced so far, two of which are located in Belmont; the other, a shelter for LGBTQ young people, is already open in The Bronx and is operating at 480 East 185th St. the city said. The other three shelters are slated to open soon in the Crown Heights area of Brooklyn.

The city has previously said residents will be notified about new shelters in their neighborhoods 30 days prior to their opening. DHS said the community was notified of the Prospect Avenue facility March 7 and the facility will open no earlier than April 6.

Some affordable housing residents in the building have already moved in, Stagg said, chosen by lottery over the winter. For seven affordable units, he said the city received approximately 35,000 applications.

Editor's Note: Due to incorrect information given by a DHS spokesperson, a previous version of this story said notification about the Prospect Avenue facility was given on March 8 and the shelter would open no earlier than April 7. Those dates were incorrect and story now reflect the accurate information.