The Riverdale Press

AAPCI will no longer be the operator of the proposed 130-bed men’s homeless shelter at 6661 Broadway in North Riverdale. City officials will now seek a new provider to fill the vacuum. The storefront businesses at the property were previously told to vacate by Dec. 31, but are staying put for now.

Agency pivots, breaks with homeless shelter provider

African American Planning Commission Inc. is out at 6661 Broadway. In a surprise move, the city said it will no longer contract with the nonprofit shelter provider homeless services officials selected more than a year ago to operate the proposed shelter in North Riverdale. more

By Abigail Nehring | 12/16/22

The site of AAPCI's proposed men’s shelter on Broadway and West 262nd Street in North Riverdale on July 13.

Agency: Shelter operator starts to reform

Since early last year, city social services officials have quietly tried to root out nepotism and conflicts of interest within one of the city’s largest nonprofit operators of homeless shelters — African American Planning Commission Inc. — even as the homeless services department procured and ushered through a review of a new proposal for a 130-bed shelter facility in North Riverdale. more

By Abigail Nehring | 7/22/22

Members of Community Board 8’s land use committee met with city officials and African American Planning Commission Inc., virtually to discuss the proposed plans to place a men’s shelter at 6661 Broadway. CB8 chair Laura Spalter argued the current property owner’s asking price of $4.4 million may be higher than what it’s actually worth.

Answers about shelter slow to come

For weeks, neighbors hoped to get answers from city officials about the proposed men’s shelter at 6661 Broadway. After deciding not to show up when they were first invited, a contingent of officials from the city’s social services department joined the recent Community Board 8 land use committee meeting. That’s where committee chair Charles Moerdler took the agency’s deputy commissioner, Erin Drinkwater, to task. more

By JOSEPH DE LA CRUZ | 12/21/21

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz says he opposes a proposed homeless shelter for North Riverdale because the presence of 130 single men in a facility just south of the Yonkers city line could make the area across from Van Cortlandt Park less safe. On the other hand, state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi says she supports the shelter because of the array of services she was told it’ll provide to those who ultimately live there.

Electeds divided when it comes to Broadway homeless

Controversy continues to surround a proposed men’s homeless shelter in North Riverdale, not just by its residential and commercial neighbors around the site, but among local elected officials as well. more

By ETHAN STARK-MILLER | 12/6/21

Opposition against a proposed single men’s homeless shelter at 6661 Broadway has been quite vocal, including a number of neighbors who gathered recently at a nearby Mosholu Avenue business to share why they hope the city’s homeless services department will put this proposed shelter somewhere else.

Fears of shelter-related crime overwhelms

The stakes are high. Too high, in fact, when it comes to a proposed men’s homeless shelter at 6661 Broadway for those who live and work close to it. more

By JOSEPH DE LA CRUZ | 11/21/21

State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi says she's backing a proposed homeless shelter at 6661 Broadway in North Riverdale and that U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman is joining her in that support.

Biaggi, Bowman say they back North Riverdale homeless shelter

Alessandra Biaggi announced Wednesday she is supporting the planned facility at 6661 Broadway that is expected to house more than 100 single men by 2023, declaring that "housing is a human right." more

By MICHAEL HINMAN | 11/3/21

Julissa Freire, owner of La Escuelita de Sofia near Mosholu and Spencer avenues, is concerned the placement of a men’s homeless shelter in her North Riverdale neighborhood could convince parents to stop bringing their children to her preschool.

Biz owners fear mixing kids, shelter

Julissa Freire would be the first to tell you she’s as compassionate as a human being can be. But with the city’s plan to construct a homeless shelter near her North Riverdale preschool, Freire is simply torn. more

By JOSEPH DE LA CRUZ | 10/31/21

More than 400 people attended a virtual meeting of Community Board 8’s health and hospitals committee meeting to learn more about a proposed single men’s shelter for 6661 Broadway.

Neighborhood says no to homeless shelter

Battle lines were drawn last week over the imminent development of a homeless shelter just south of the Yonkers city line. Community Board 8’s health and hospitals committee was the first to take up the facility, which is expected to open at 6661 Broadway in 2023. more

By JOSEPH DE LA CRUZ | 10/24/21

What once used to be a storefront across from Van Cortlandt Park is now expected to become a shelter for more than 100 single men beginning in 2023 at 6661 Broadway. Community Board 8 will address the proposal for the first time Oct. 13 at its health, hospitals and social services committee.

CB8 questions shelter proposal

There’s a new neighbor coming to Broadway in 2023 — and it’s not exactly who many in North Riverdale had hoped for. Community Board 8’s health, hospitals and social services committee is set to hear a proposal from the city’s homeless services department on Wednesday that would open a shelter for 130 single men at 6661 Broadway. more

By JOSEPH DE LA CRUZ | 10/17/21

A passerby walks past the transitional housing facility at 5731 Broadway — a facility that could get a sister project just up the road, but instead designed for single men.

Dinowitzes oppose homeless shelter, Biaggi on fence

It's a journey that begins on 30th Street in Manhattan, and at some point in the not-so-distant future, will end in a new temporary home about 230 blocks north for more than a hundred single men looking to sleep with a roof over their heard. more

By MICHAEL HINMAN | 10/14/21