Veterans Justice Project has also questioned Borden's use of a MICA—Mentally Ill/Chemically Addicted—model, arguing that New York City's only GPD program became centered on mental-health or substance-use diagnoses rather than simply providing transitional housing to homeless veterans. Women veterans, veterans with families and veterans who did not fit that model have lacked an equivalent GPD transitional option and can instead be routed through the City's general shelter system.
The financial structure raises additional questions. The historical VA GPD rate associated with Borden was approximately $68.64 per veteran per day, while published City figures have placed a standard non-emergency DHS single-adult shelter bed at approximately $136 per day. The rates represent different funding structures, but the comparison raises an obvious question: why reject federal assistance for veteran transitional housing while continuing to pay to shelter veterans elsewhere?
A forthcoming Veterans Justice Project report will also examine ICL's financial relationship with Borden Avenue, including approximately $2.22 million budgeted for counseling and a Mental Health Services Adjustment, compared with roughly $539,000 for food and only $32,000 for client transportation. The report will examine whether the financial structure creates incentives to provide behavioral-health services within the DHS/ICL network rather than transporting eligible veterans to the VA system.
The reported reduction to 40 beds could have provided an opportunity to rebuild GPD as a smaller, safer and more accountable transitional program. Instead, New York City may soon have none. Borden Avenue can remain a shelter. The veterans will remain.
What disappears is the VA transitional program intended to help them leave homelessness behind.
For more information on Borden Avenue, click HERE.
