Brooklyn parents and residents protest planned men's homeless shelter near middle school
Parents, teachers and residents in Brooklyn's Canarsie neighborhood protested Monday night against a proposed 200-bed men's homeless shelter one block from Science and Medicine Middle School 366, as Council Member Mercedes Narcisse said the city did not seek her input before notifying her.
Parents, teachers and residents of Brooklyn's Canarsie neighborhood gathered Monday night to protest a proposed 200-bed men's homeless shelter on East 108th Street, a site one block from Science and Medicine Middle School 366. The demonstrators want city officials to reconsider the location, and their demands have grown to include a request that Mayor Zohran Mamdani attend a public discussion of the plan.
Council Member Mercedes Narcisse, who represents District 46, joined the protesters. She said the city's social services agency notified her last week about the proposed shelter, and that the agency did not seek her input before doing so. Narcisse has requested a meeting with the agency's commissioner for Thursday to discuss the project and the concerns raised by families in the area. The shelter is expected to open in 2028.
The Canarsie site is one of 12 new shelters that the city has planned as part of a citywide effort, and three of those planned shelters are in Brooklyn. The agency has said that notifying officials and community boards marks the start of a public process, and that formal community engagement comes later in that process. For residents who learned of the plan only after it was set, that sequencing has been a central point of frustration.
The Canarsie opposition is part of a broader wave of demonstrations across the city over where men's shelters are being sited. Much of the anger has been fueled by a separate episode reported earlier, in which the city moved 110 single homeless men into a former Brooklyn family shelter. According to that report, no criminal background checks were conducted before the relocation. Critics point to that move as a reason to demand more transparency about who will be housed near schools and homes, and how the city plans to supervise those residents.
The school's proximity is the concern that has resonated most with parents. Families at the middle school, which serves students in the area, have questioned how close daily foot traffic from a 200-bed facility would be to children walking to and from class. Teachers taking part in the protest have voiced similar worries about student safety, and residents have said they want a clear answer on security plans before any construction moves forward.
Fox News Digital reached out to the school, Narcisse's office and the mayor's office for comment. As of publication, none of them had responded. The reporting draws on coverage by News 12 Brooklyn and the New York Post, and the situation remains open, with the outcome of Narcisse's requested meeting with the agency commissioner yet to be reported.
Source: foxnews.com
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