Bedford Park residents have been getting more and more vocal about the unsightly, overflowing trash situation on Mosholu Parkway during their regular Bedford Mosholu Community Association (BMCA) meetings, as reported, but another issue which has also raised concern is the growing number of make-shift tents erected by homeless people along the parkway in recent weeks.

 

As one resident, who went by the Twitter username, @maminature30, tweeted on Monday, Oct. 18, “@EricDinowitzNYC, @norwoodnews, @NYCDHS, @NYPD52Pct How long before the encampment at Moshulu Parkway becomes a tent city? It already doubled in size since last week. Somebody needs to intervene.”

 

Bedford Park resident, Elizabeth Quaranta, who is also the executive director for Friends of Mosholu Parkland (FOMP), has been urging residents to log complaints about the tents with the City’s 311 service in order to put pressure on City officials to address the issue and ensure people who are experiencing homelessness or are vulnerable are housed safely elsewhere.

 

“We need your help,” she wrote in a post on FOMP’s Facebook page on Oct. 14. “Please log on the 311 Breaking Parks Rules before this person hurts himself from heavy drinking and possibly running into the parkway.” Quaranta accompanied her post with some photos of the tents belonging to the people who were camped out on the parkway.

 

“He has to be helped and removed,” she continued. “We need at least 10 [311 complaints] on this. This tent was just put up this morning and the person is destructive to himself and the environment. Thank you!!” Quaranta recommended giving the address as 333 Mosholu North [behind the monument] when logging a complaint since it is the closest available address to where the tents are based and suggested adding notes to describe the actual location.

 

Recently, in response to complaints from New Yorkers about the need to assist people experiencing homelessness seen on public transport and who were, reportedly, causing delays with the train schedules, the MTA urged commuters who come across such individuals on the subway to call “BRC,” a homeless shelter operator with whom NYC Transit has a contract. “People experiencing homelessness often move locations faster than we can coordinate, so we suggest calling BRC at (212) 533 5151,” an MTA official said. “Their helpline is staffed 24/7 and can dispatch a team ASAP.”

 

In light of this update from MTA, Norwood News reached out to both NYC Department of Parks & Recreation (Parks), and NYC Department of Social Services / NYC Department of Homeless Services (NYC DSS-DHS) to ask if there was an equivalent service or number to call when residents encountered people experiencing homeless or people experiencing mental difficulties in the City’s parks.

 

On Tuesday, Oct. 19, Dan Kastanis, press officer with the Parks’ department responded, saying, “We conducted two clean-ups at Mosholu Parkway today (Oct. 19) as part of the Mayor’s Homeless Interagency Taskforce, to address tents and refuse at the sites, and we continue to coordinate with DHS on providing outreach to these individuals.” Kastanis added, “Being homeless in and around a New York City park is not a crime. As part of the City’s effort to provide shelter, support, and services to homeless individuals, if you see someone suffering from homelessness in a City park, or setting up an encampment, please report it to 311.”

 

According to City officials, as part of the mayor’s “Homeless Interagency Taskforce,” approximately three to six organized clean-up events take place each week. Spearheaded by DSS-DHS, they say the task force comprises members of Parks’ the NYPD, NYC Department of Transportation (DOT), NYC Department of Sanitation (DSNY), and NYC Department of Buildings (DOB). To date this year, City officials said the task force has participated in over 100 joint task force operations.

 

In terms of the Mosholu Parkway clean-up operation on Tuesday, City officials said DSS-DHS had previously reached out to the affected homeless individuals located on the parkway, but they had refused services at that time. A letter was subsequently issued informing them of the impending removal of their tents, and this action was subsequently carried out on Tuesday.

 

Parks officials said they work closely with the NYPD, DSS-DHS and other community-based organizations to engage chronically homeless individuals when found in the City’s parks and offer services and support to help get them to shelter.

 

On Wednesday, Oct. 20, a spokesperson for NYC DSS-DHS also provided us with feedback on the situation, saying, “Helping our neighbors experiencing unsheltered homelessness get back on their feet is hard work in the best of times, and over the past year-plus of this crisis, our invaluable outreach teams have gone above and beyond amid unprecedented circumstances to engage unsheltered New Yorkers, provide them with information on the range of resources available, and encourage them to accept services.”

 

The statement continued, “Since January 2020, as part of our ongoing efforts to increase service options and pathways off the streets for New Yorkers in need, we’ve opened more than 1,300 specialized beds dedicated to serving and supporting unsheltered individuals, including new Safe Haven and stabilization beds we established in commercial hotel locations. These beds are already proving to be a vital resource for outreach teams, helping hundreds of individuals who were residing on the streets get back on their feet.”

 

Norwood News reported previously on the transfer of certain individuals from the Jerome Avenue Men’s Shelter to a hotel in midtown Manhattan.

 

The spokesperson concluded, saying, “Through this around-the-clock effort, and with new tools, investments, and interventions, outreach teams have helped more than 4,200 individuals come off the streets and remain off under the HOME-STAT program, which is the most comprehensive outreach program in the nation.”

 

@EricDinowitzNYC @norwoodnews @NYCDHS @NYPD52Pct How long before the encampment at Moshulu Parkway becomes a tent city? It already doubled in size since last week. Somebody needs to intervene.

— maminature30 (@maminature30) October 18, 2021

 

The Home-STAT outreach initiative is an initiative of the Mayor’s Office. According to NYC DSS-DHS, HOME-STAT partners existing homeless response and prevention programs with new innovations designed to better identify, engage, and transition homeless New Yorkers to appropriate services and, ultimately, to permanent housing.

 

They said since HOME-STAT was initiated, outreach teams have helped more than 4,200 New Yorkers experiencing unsheltered homelessness off the streets, citywide, thanks to new investments, a tripling of the size of those teams, and quintupling the number of specialized beds from 600 in 2013 to over 3,000 in Oct 2021. Of this number, 1,300 were made available since January 2020, including 600 which were opened during the height of the pandemic, and another 600 opened since the summer of 2020.

 

DHS officials said these beds have already helped vulnerable people get back on their feet, including people who accepted shelter services through what they called the teams’ “ongoing, intensified overnight outreach efforts” during the MTA’s recent overnight subway shutdown.

 

Agency officials added that the outreach teams remain undeterred in their efforts to engage clients proactively until they make the connection that will help them transition off the streets. For the most immediate response, New Yorkers who see individuals who they believe are experiencing homelessness and are in need, should contact 311 via phone or mobile app and request outreach assistance.

 

DHS also provided information on the outreach efforts in the Mosholu Parkway area of the Bronx to date, explaining that outreach efforts are coordinated by not-for-profit social service and outreach provider, BronxWorks.

 

They said the BronxWorks team actively engages clients who are known to them and who are confirmed as experiencing unsheltered homelessness. They added that experienced BronxWorks employees canvass the Mosholu location at least 28 times every week, and continue to actively engage six individuals who are experiencing homelessness, in an effort to offer them services and help them come indoors. They said the individuals in question are known to the teams to be experiencing homelessness and are on BronxWorks team’s “by-name list,” and they continue to work closely with them to encourage them to accept services and transition off the streets.

 

DHS said that for another three individuals encountered on the streets in the area, the BronxWorks team have not yet ascertained enough information to verify if they are homeless or not, but continue to engage them in order to assess their living situation and determine what services they may need.

 

DHS officials said that BronxWorks have also made three placements in the past year, connecting people in the area with transitional or permanent housing opportunities. The agency officials went on to explain that New Yorkers experiencing unsheltered homelessness are the most uniquely challenging population to engage. With higher rates of mental health and substance use challenges, medical difficulties, and disabilities, and with each individual finding his or her way to the street via different paths, agency officials said it can take time to bring the impacted individuals indoors from unsheltered environments (several months on average). They added that this can involve hundreds of contacts with outreach teams to build the trust and relationships that will ultimately result in their accepting the services offered.

 

 

Thank you. I saw another gentleman just sleeping on the median near Clinton. Is the City dropping off mentally ill homeless in our neighborhood. In 20 yrs in the area, I had never seen anything like it.

— maminature30 (@maminature30) October 20, 2021

 

They added that the impacted individuals may be resistant to accepting help. In accordance with NYS Mental Hygiene Law, they said unsheltered homeless New Yorkers cannot be involuntarily removed from the streets unless they are posing a danger to themselves or others. However, according to DHS, their partner teams remain undeterred in their efforts to help them transition off the subways and public areas. To that end, they said all unsheltered outreach teams have access to:

• • licensed clinicians who work with clients on the streets, provide ongoing case management, and assess each individual for immediate risk/crisis during each encounter;
  • psychiatrists who perform psychiatric evaluations on the streets, as needed, helping understand and better meet the individual needs of each street homeless New Yorker;
  • substance use resources, including the ability to immediately connect individuals to detox and other rehabilitation programs, as well as being trained in naloxone administration.

 

Finally, NYC DSS-DHS provided information on their joint outreach operations in addressing conditions on the street in the context of unsheltered New Yorkers. They said whenever the City learns of a condition on the street that needs to be addressed e.g. conditions obstructing public space, etc., the City addresses them quickly and carefully, in a compassionate, coordinated manner.

 

They said this means being on hand before and during the process, with a focus on preserving the relationships they’ve built with their clients through engagement. This includes providing advance notice, alerting the impacted individuals of any scheduled clean-up events. Outreach teams are then part of that process every step of the way, working closely with the impacted people before, during, and after the clean-up events in order to keep building the trust that will encourage them to accept services.

 

Whenever a condition needs to be addressed by DOT, DSNY or Parks, DHS officials said their teams participate in order to continue engaging individuals who may be living unsheltered at the location and encourage them to accept services on offer. During these operations, law enforcement partners may attend if there is a need for any enforcement actions, including arrest or summons.

 

 

They said that these situations are carefully conducted interventions that take place when a known unsheltered individual has repeatedly refused services and has accumulated items that may obstruct an area, like a sidewalk, for example. They said efforts like these involve all participating agencies working together to build upon the trust and the relationship initially developed by outreach teams to ultimately encourage an individual to accept services and allow their accumulated belongings to be cleaned up.

 

During such operations, outreach teams are present, engaging those in need, recognizing their humanity, and ensuring any valuable property is respected and protected. They said the City follows a specific protocol which involves continued careful engagement, notifying the individuals that their property will be and, later, has been moved from the reported area, and including details about how the individuals can obtain the property. This process was developed in 2016 with the launch of HOME-STAT. Assessments are performed prior to every attempted clean-up to ensure safety and quality-of-life.

 

DHS officials said engaging those in need isn’t easy or quick work, nor is accepting services for those who’ve lived unsheltered for some time; it requires persistence, compassion, and trust.

 

Norwood News has since been informed that one of the same individuals who was previously set-up in a tent on Mosholu Parkland is back once again. We reached out to Parks and DSS-DHS for an update.

 

A DSS-DHS spokesperson responded on Friday, Oct. 22, saying, “Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Our dedicated outreach teams will continue to engage any New Yorkers experiencing unsheltered homelessness in this area and will come back again and again until they are able to make the breakthroughs that will help these unsheltered New Yorkers accept services and transition indoors.” He added, “Furthermore, for your awareness, the City/agency partners are scheduled to return next week to address any conditions that may be in the area.”

 

On Saturday, Oct. 30, a man experiencing homelessness was seen, along with his apparent belongings, sitting in the middle of Mosholu Parkway, itself. A Norwood News reporter attempted to speak to him but the man declined to do so.