Participatory government, or rather lack thereof, is playing itself out right now in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn and New York’s other boroughs. In a letter dated October 4, Brooklyn Community Board 6 was notified that Housing Solutions USA, in partnership with the NYC Department of Homeless Services (DHS), intends to open a 170-bed homeless shelter for single adults (reportedly men) at 165 West 9th Street, between Court Street and Hamilton Avenue. As the city faces an undisputed crisis of homelessness, the shelter is being opened under emergency provisions, allowing the city to bypass any process of contract bidding and engagement to gather community input. The shelter could open in as little as 30 days.
The shelter site is a 10-unit condo building long plagued by construction defects. The building was constructed more than a decade ago with Robert Scarano as architect. Once a favored architect of developers looking to make a splash by creating luxury yuppie housing in fringe neighborhoods, Scarano fell into disgrace for poor practices and misleading statements (outright lies, some say) in his filings to the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB). He is now banned from filing any building documents, permit applications and construction plans with the city.
