Support Housing for LGBT Youth in Astoria
NYC Board of Standards and Appeals
Friends,
We need your help. The Ali Forney Center, the largest provider of housing services for homeless LGBT youth in the city, is trying to open a supportive housing complex at 46-09 31st Avenue here in Astoria. It would offer 21 studio apartments and provide case management and supportive services on site. The project was unanimously approved by our local community board last year, pending approval by the NYC Board of Standards and Appeals.
But at the last BSA hearing in October, 7 residents came and spoke against the project, claiming it would cast shadows near their home. Supporters were caught off guard.
Not only is this not true, as a design study has proved, but it's outrageous that people are organizing to kill such a critically important project over this issue at all.
There will be another BSA hearing on Tuesday, January 28th, and organizers have requested that Astoria residents who support the center make their voices heard.
Our campaign will be presenting this petition at the hearing to make sure the BSA understands that Astoria can provide a safe and welcoming environment for everyone, not just the investors who've been driving up rents in our neighborhood for more than a decade.
So if you're an Astoria resident, please add your name.
Sponsored by
To:
NYC Board of Standards and Appeals
From:
[Your Name]
As Astoria residents, we strongly support of the variances for this much needed and precedent setting housing for homeless LGBTQ youth.
There are over 1,600 homeless LGBTQ youth in NYC, and they are at high risk for physical and sexual assault in NYC’s shelter system. This type of housing provides a safe, home like environment so that they can transition successfully to adulthood.
The Ali Forney Center has an excellent reputation as the largest provider of housing, health care and support services to homeless LGBTQ youth in the US. All of their residents are assisted in completing their high school education/GED and 75% go on to college.
The Ali Forney Center currently provides 157 emergency and transitional beds, and this will be their first permanent housing project. As significant as their programs are, the City needs to create over 1,000 more housing units for homeless LGBTQ youth. Each project is essential to reach that goal.
I believe this project has been designed at a human scale and will not have any negative impacts on the community since the variances requested are just a few feet for setbacks and building height.
In fact, the building will have many positive impacts. It will make the block safer by providing staffing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and will have security cameras facing the street which will benefit the community as a whole.
It is extremely difficult to find suitable and affordable development sites to build any affordable housing in Queens, and there is often community opposition. The Episcopal Diocese has generously offered to partner with the Ali Forney Center on this project, the first such housing collaboration between a religious institution and an LGBTQ organization, which is very significant given that many LGBTQ youth are homeless because their parents cannot reconcile their religious beliefs with their child’s sexuality or gender identity. This project is fully funded and just needs BSA approval.
We urge the BSA to support all the necessary variances.