Breaking Ground is committed to being a good neighbor in every community where we operate transitional and permanent housing. We look forward to working with the residents of lower Manhattan to ensure that the South Strand Safe Haven program is responsive to the needs of the community.
The following series of Questions and Answers provides information regarding the program, who it will serve, and how we work with communities.
What is a safe haven?
Safe havens are a type of short-term housing designed to be more attractive to people who are living unsheltered on the streets. There are no curfews and referrals can only come from street homeless outreach providers; in this case, primarily Manhattan Outreach Consortium teams, with some referrals likely to come from colleagues who do outreach in the transit system. The average length of stay in Breaking Ground safe havens is currently approximately 13 months. With robust onsite staffing, our goal is to help each individual prepare for and move into permanent housing as quickly as possible.
People living unsheltered on the streets are extremely vulnerable, and have often been failed by many other systems and programs. Our goal is to help them come inside while we work with each person to find the most appropriate permanent housing solution.
The absence of a curfew is a deliberate choice for safe havens, as rigid rules can often be a barrier to accessing housing. Imposing a curfew can inadvertently push individuals back to the streets, as they may not feel ready or able to adhere to such strict schedules due to the unpredictability of their circumstances. By allowing residents to come and go with autonomy, we build trust and create a space where they feel respected and supported. Our focus is on reducing the number of people on the streets by meeting them where they are, rather than imposing restrictions that might drive them away.
Who will this program serve?
People of all genders experiencing unsheltered homelessness on the streets from this and surrounding communities.
Referrals to the safe haven will only come through outreach teams, who are typically building long-term relationships with street homeless clients. No one comes into a safe haven after an outreach team having met them for the first time, outreach teams usually know people very well before a safe haven placement. Placements are also made based on a complex and dynamic set of information that considers a client’s needs, thus increasing the chances of successful placement for the client and the community.
Will there be mentally ill people and substance abusers at the safe haven?
When people have a safe, stable place to live and care for themselves, they are much more likely to seek treatment for mental health or substance use disorders. The goal here, as with each of our safe havens, is to provide that safe, stable place for people who are right now living on the streets and immediately reduce the number of people living unsheltered.
More than a quarter of homeless single adults – and more than half of those who meet the definition of chronically homeless – are living with mental health or substance use disorders (or in some cases both). Part of our work at Breaking Ground is about breaking down stigmas around mental health and substance use. Our clients are much more likely to cause self-harm than harm to others, and that’s why we work to connect clients with harm reduction specialists and onsite psychiatric services in our safe haven programs.
Will sex offenders be in your program?
Breaking Ground works closely with the Department of Homeless Services on these highly sensitive matters. Any individual who has a residency restriction would not be allowed as a resident of the safe haven.
Won’t bringing hundreds of homeless people to our neighborhood cause chaos in the community?
The people Breaking Ground will serve through this safe haven are already in your neighborhood – they are sleeping on sidewalks, under scaffolding, in ATM vestibules, in parks, and other places not meant for human habitation. Our goal is to provide an indoor alternative, with wraparound services, that works. Helping people come off the streets is better for people experiencing homelessness and the community. The majority of people housed at this safe haven will have been living on the street somewhere within or nearby this community. Our own data shows that when a new safe haven opens, 311 calls related to homeless assistance and homeless encampments in the neighborhood decrease significantly.
We prioritize being a good neighbor. All of our safe havens have onsite staff and 24/7 security. Staff at our safe havens regularly perform community walk-arounds to understand and address issues proactively. A wide array of onsite programming is planned, including individual counseling, group activities, psychiatric care, and most importantly our intensive work to assist each individual in finding permanent housing solutions. The most successful groups we run across our safe havens were formed from resident input, including things such as poetry slams, knitting groups, visual art groups (we have hosted pop-up galleries open to the public in some of our other safe havens to display resident art), gardening clubs, substance use support groups, yoga and meditation, and more.
As with all of our safe haven programs, we are planning to develop a community advisory board, and we are happy to take names and email addresses from folks who would be interested in joining. Our outreach and safe haven program staff are always available if you or your neighbors have any questions or concerns.
But this site is right next to a school. What were you thinking?
It is very common for safe havens and shelters to be in close proximity to schools, and we are experienced at working with a variety of schools in the neighborhoods where other safe havens are located:
- Our West 83rd Street Safe Haven on the Upper West Side is located directly across the street from the campus of P.S. 9 (K-5) and Center School (middle school), and our building entrance looks directly onto the kindergarten playground, from which dismissal occurs daily. We have developed close relationships with P.S. 9 and Center School leadership and security teams, and given presentations to parent associations of both schools. P.S. 9 leadership is on our Community Advisory Board, and we coordinate schedules with them regularly to ensure that our staff helps to monitor during pick up, drop off, and other key times during school hours. No incidents have occurred.
- Seafarer’s Safe Haven near Union square is located near three schools – Success Academy’s Union Square Elementary charter school, the Jack and Jill School, and Friends Seminary. We keep lines of communication with all schools, and a representative from Friends Seminary is on our Community Advisory Board. No incidents have occurred.
But the courtyard space and many resident rooms are visible from classrooms. There’s no way you can shield students and teachers from this facility.
Breaking Ground is sensitive to the privacy needs of our homeless clients and the community.
We will work closely with the community and Peck Slip School to increase privacy for both the school and our residents through installation of a canopy in the courtyard area. Additionally, due to concerns regarding smoking, Breaking Ground would work with the school to restrict access to, or any/all smoking within, this space when school is in session.
We are aware that a number of residential rooms face a few Peck Slip School classroom windows and interior stairwell windows on the interior. Breaking Ground will work with the developer and DHS to install approved privacy screening on resident windows, which could include a semi-permanent frosted application that provides privacy both from the interior and exterior views but still allows diffused natural light to enter.
What are you going to do about emergency calls? We always see increased police and EMS presence whenever one of these facilities opens in our neighborhood.
All Breaking Ground staff receive crisis prevention and intervention training, designed to reduce the need for non-medical emergency responses. Staff also receive training on how to handle onsite emergencies and calls for assistance (either EMS or NYPD) – including training on how to speak to 911 dispatch in order to ensure that the response is commensurate with the circumstances.
We build very close relationships with the local precinct and NCOs at every safe haven site and permanent housing site that we manage and operate, again with the goal of reducing the need for disproportionate emergency response should the occasion arise.
Timeline and Expectations
When do you plan to open?
We expect to open in the first quarter of 2025 at the earliest.
Aren’t you doing this just to have more contracts with New York City, and thus more money?
We are a non-profit that has helped more than 20,000 people escape and avoid homelessness over more than three decades of services. We are proud of our history and will continue to serve people experiencing homelessness, help them come indoors to transitional housing like this program, and develop affordable and supportive housing in New York because everyone deserves a home. We have earned the trust of communities across Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens.
What is the budget? How are you planning for long-term financial stability for the project?
We always work to negotiate budgets that allow for extensive services onsite and lower client-to staff ratios, so that people get personalized and comprehensive care in our safe havens. And with 24-hour security and staffing, we are also able to do community and neighborhood walk-abouts based on the needs and feedback from the community.