The Coalition for the Homeless says they receive the most complaints about Fort Greene’s Auburn Family Reception Center, a homeless shelter that was once Cumberland Hospital, according to a report in the Brooklyn Ink.
The Ink reports that Auburn, run by the Department of Homeless Services, has a reputation tarnished by poor heating in the winter, bad food and surly guards, who some say have asked sexual favors of residents (these allegations have not been confirmed).
Of the poor conditions at the shelter, Patrick Markee of the Coalition of the Homeless told the Ink: “The city itself has acknowledged the problem—they just are not fixing it.”
In September, Patch reported on a Health, Environment and Social Services Committee meeting held by Community Board 2, in which DHS representative Alex Zablocki .
Heating was still a big issue, though Zablocki said that temperatures were monitored, and residents could be transferred to a different room. Another concern was that there were only two microwaves for 60 families, as well as broken elevators and roof leaks.
In the Ink’s report, Dr. Georgianna Glose, of the Fort Greene Strategic Neighborhood Action Partnership, a community group, charged that the DHS are less critical of their own shelter than they are of similar non-profit shelters.
