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| NYC Can't Use Jail as Shelter |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 09/16/2002 |
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The city can no longer use a former jail as a temporary homeless shelter, a judge ruled. State Supreme Court Justice Helen Freedman said recently that the facility must be vacated by Sept. 25 because of a law banning the use of barracks-style shelters for more than 45 days. Advocates for the homeless had protested the jail's use, calling it humiliating and potentially unsafe. The city opened it earlier this month to provide beds for families who had been sleeping on the floor of an emergency center. It was quickly closed to young children and those in fragile health after the Legal Aid Society found potentially hazardous levels of lead in the building. A lead cleanup was completed August 30, and Freedman said that if an independent inspector approved the facility, families with young children could return until Sept. 25. City officials said they were doing everything they could to find alternative shelters. 'We don't want to be in the position, if something goes wrong, of telling people they have to sleep on the floor of the E.A.U. (Emergency Assistance Unit), when there is a bed nearby,' said Michael A. Cardozo, the city's corporation counsel. The jail is two blocks from the E.A.U., the primary intake center for the homeless. |
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