Residents Furious as New Homeless Shelter Planned for East Flatbush and Remsen Village, Amid an Uptick in Crime

A new 120-bed homeless shelter is planned for 125 East 55th Street, in middle of a quiet residential block on the border of Remsen Village and East Flatbush, according to information presented to Brooklyn Community Board 17 (CB17). The proposed development calls for a multi-story 61-foot-tallbuilding on a 3,000-square-foot lot, with construction expected to be completed and the shelter scheduled to open in summer 2028.

The shelter will be operated by Samaritan, a nonprofit provider that contracts with the New York Department of Homeless Services (DHS) and is funded through city and state resources.

The proposed location sits between the Remsen Village and East Flatbush Chabad communities and is within walking distance of several Jewish institutions, including Lubavitch Remsen Village Shul, a Early Childhood preschool from a mainstream CH moisod, a Mikvah, a kosher Grocery store, a Kindergarten East Flatbush location and Mesivtah campus from another mainstream CH moisod. The proximity of the proposed shelter to schools and houses of worship will likely raise concerns by yeshiva parents about safety issues on the neighborhood institutions.

The Homeless shelter proposal also comes just days after the widely publicized armed vicious attack on a Lubavitcher mother which took place two-blocks away from this location, further heightening security concerns among residents about public safety.

The district is represented in the New York State Assembly by Monique Chandler-Waterman. As of publication, she has not publicly commented on the proposed shelter or the recent disturbing crime incident in the area, but she did however post on her offices social media concerns against the U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) which has been spotted in her district near the ‘Utica Hotel’ at 599 Utica Avenue which converted into a migrant homeless shelter under the Adams administration and has since been a hotbed in originating local crime and nuisance to local businesses and residents, making many constituents question if the Assemblywoman is against public safety and security.

A Lubavitcher resident of East Flatbush stated: “Thanks to the Crown Heights elected officials which include, Senator Zellnor Myrie, Assemblyman Brian Cunningham and Councilwoman Rita Joseph, there is already the ‘Mega’ Homeless Shelter on Clarkson Avenue getting built which will bring 1,081 new violent criminals into the neighborhood. As well as the transitional housing for “unhoused” New Yorkers diagnosed with serious mental illness that Councilwoman Crystal Hudson is welcoming into Crown Heights. Nobody but the politicians and their lobbyist donors want shelters, what will be the future of the neighborhood if our progressive socialist elected officials keep funding shelter after homeless shelter?”

An African American woman from the district voiced concern that all these notorious Homeless shelters being dumped in the neighborhood, which are filled with dangerous violent criminals will all but destroy the lives of the local residents in the area, most of whom are lifelong African American families which this is a direct racial civil rights discrimination tactic targeting black and brown residents, our leftist elected officials would never allow nearly 20 homeless shelters, each with hundreds of unvetted psychiatric individuals, to be placed in a white area like Park Slope as they are deliberately doing in East Flatbush.”

“The African American community already suffer from the daily crime committed by those unhinged mentally retarded persons residing in the many homeless shelters currently near Kings County Hospital in Crown Heights and East Flatbush.” The local resident concluded.

Some Jewish residents have also questioned why more attention has not been given to these local issues by community leaders, activists and Askonim who allegedly have great connections with the elected officials and tell us who we must vote for before every election because if we don’t vote for the Askonim’s candidate then it’s a “Chillul Hashem.”

Another Homeless shelter located at 832 Rutland Road on the border of Crown Heights, East Flatbush and Remsen Village also recently opened next door to to the shuttered Kingsbrook Synagogue building, the CH Shul which had its Jewish congregation which consists of an estimated 100 Chabad Lubavitch families—banned from entering by New York State tax funded agency ‘One Brooklyn Health’ and is currently in court attempting to demolish the Kingsbrook Synagogue to replace it with supportive housing.

One African American Remsen Village homeowner and grandfather of three, expressed concern over what he views as the growing concentration of homeless shelters in nearby neighborhoods.

“Our communities continue to see more and more newly opened homeless shelters filled with criminals that are not from our district—while our families with children are just simply asking for safety,” the lifelong resident said. “People want to know whether the elected officials are even qualified to hold office since their actions of forcing homeless shelters full of illegal migrants and criminals into the overwhelmingly black neighborhoods of Remsen Village and East Flatbush will permanently destroy our community and the neighborhood we have called home for generations.”

Another longtime East Flatbush Caribbean American mother stressed that many neighbors are worried about the cumulative impact of multiple homeless shelters in the area. “Residents deserve to have their concerns heard and want to preserve the quality of life and safety of their families,” she said.

As an estimated dozen homeless shelter proposals in the 43rd and 58th NYS Assembly districts move through the planning process, residents say they hope city and state officials will provide real public input and address concerns about neighborhood safety, infrastructure, and the long-term negative impact of the permanent damage it is doing to  the lives of all district residents.