FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 1, 2023
Contact: Maria Landron | mlandron@skdknick.com

Statement from New York Shelter For All In Need Equally (NY SANE) Coalition on the Opening of Floyd Bennett Shelter

“Families living in the Floyd Bennett shelter will face unnecessary hardships…integrating themselves into their new communities.”

 New York, NY – The co-conveners (Episcopal Diocese of New York, Legal Aid Society, Coalition for the Homeless, and Win) of the NY SANE Coalition — comprised of religious leaders, organized labor, and advocates defending the right to shelter, today released the following statement in response to the opening of Floyd Bennett shelter in Southeast Brooklyn:

 “With its countless safety hazards and vulnerability to flooding, the living conditions at the Floyd Bennett Field for families and children are simply unacceptable. 

 “The City and State are failing families who have already experienced unimaginable hardships, and the conditions at Floyd Bennett Field will only exacerbate their trauma. With its lack of proximity to public transit, families living in the Floyd Bennett shelter will face unnecessary hardship in accessing essential physical, legal, and humanitarian resources, transporting their children to schools, and integrating themselves into their new communities. New York is unfortunately in this situation because of the State’s failure to assist the City with the decompression and resettlement of migrants, and the City’s failure to utilize faith-based organizations that have repeatedly offered hundreds of open beds for asylum seekers. The NY SANE Coalition urges City and State officials to collaborate with the FDNY to open shelters at the 50 faith-based institutions that are prepared to house up to 1,000 people, and consider housing migrants at hotels and other sanctuary spaces that are humane to treat these families with the dignity they deserve.”