Borden Avenue Experience
Veterans Justice Project January 6, 2023
New York, NY 10001
Borden Avenue Veterans’ Residency Experience
Summary of Experience
My experience with the Grant & Per Diem program goes back to when I was a resident and front desk clerk for a veterans’ transitional program in Phoenix, MANA House (2016-18), during a transition of its own as a Catholic Charities program. Each veteran that was referred to MANA House from the VA outreach program, Community Resource and Referral Center (CRRC), filled out an application we provided and then was immediately interviewed by the House Assistant Manager.
Upon acceptance into the program, the veteran was assigned a bed in the ‘bunks’, a large bunkroom with three bunkbeds to afford the veteran an adjustment period of a few days so that we could keep an eye on them and make sure they weren’t experiencing any mental health/withdrawal/injuries. Each veteran would then be assigned a squad and a bed in a four-man room with a dresser, bed and nightstand, and a section for hanging their clothes. I also ran the veteran’s outreach program with another staff veteran that provided all access to the house three times a week with approximately 100-120 visits each month.
It took 154 days from my entrance at the NYCHS ‘Bellevue’ Shelter located at 400 East 30th St. in Manhattan on July 26, 2022, as ‘Triage’ status:
- July 26-Aug. 3 Belview Homeless Shelter
- August 3-13 Borden Ave (Cubicle)
- August 13-20 Arizona
- Aug. 20-Sept. 8 Borden Ave (Open bunk)
- Sept. 8-23 Isolation Hotel (Shared room)
- Sept. 23-Dec. 22 Borden Ave (Cubicle)
For the purposes of this report, I will only address those programs that I had direct experience with. Over the course of five months, I had case managers for:
- NYC Dept. of Homeless Services (NYCHS) (3)
- NYC Dept. of Housing Services (NYCDHS) (3)
- Housing & Urban Development/Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD/VASH) (3)
- NYC Dept. of Veterans Services (NYCDVS) (4)
- NYC Housing Authority (NYCHA) (1)
- HIV/AIDS Services Agency (HASA) (3)
- Citileaf (2).
As is evidenced above, I had over a dozen case workers, case managers, counselors, etc. who while have an important role in the housing process, the lack of a ‘boots on the ground’ go-to person created confusion and frustration for myself and other veterans at Borden Ave. This frustration took an immense toll on my mental health and continues with the other veterans. Ultimately, the result was a lapse of two months before acceptance into the HUD/VASH program, and then an issue with an incorrect passcode that delayed the process an additional number of weeks.
The facility that is Borden Ave is an expansive warehouse housing approximately 250 veterans with various housing needs, levels of mental illness, and criminal tendencies in a desolate area of Long Island City on a poorly lit street and limited access to the community. Mixing veterans with seriously mental illness and drug/alcohol addictions with those veterans on a path to success such as I was only negatively impacts those veterans seeking a successful path. Borden Ave in its current state is a homeless shelter with strict security, a no-food/beverage policy, crappy food, and not a lot in the way of shelter ‘luxuries’. It understandably can be chaotic as anyone would expect from a shelter in NYC. The problem is that GPD veterans at Borden are in transition but being subjected to conditions one would expect from a shelter. This has also been a point of contention between those veterans (especially combat) being housed in a transitional program with non-VA eligible veterans.
In the five months I spent at Borden Ave I was exposed to some things no one should have to live with on a prison yard, much less at a Veteran’s Transitional Program imprisoned in a violent and chaotic environment without access to edible food, coffee, or sleep solely because we’re all veterans. What has been going on since I arrived is that veterans on a supposed path of housing and financial stability being directly housed with veterans in various stages of severe mental illness. Hardly a night passes that there isn’t an ambulance is at Borden Ave taking a veteran to the hospital only to have return a few hours or days later. NYPD is there at least once a day, sometimes two or three. In the span of just two weeks, two veterans died of overdose and another of a hit & run driver. At one time there were four veterans sporting black eyes because of assaults both in and outside of Borden Ave.
Laundry services are only provided by staff, so clothes are washed and dried in a net bag and then a ball of wrinkled clothes is returned to the veteran in a plastic bag. There are no washers/dryers for the veterans and I was told that starch is not allowed because it clogs the air filters. Kitchen staff is rigid, denying simple requests of an extra milk or a packet of tabasco sauce. Coffee is only available from 7:30-9:00 am and beverages are not allowed. The only other source of nutrition are vending machines which regularly take the veteran’s money. In the five months I was there, the library was only open during the Mayor’s Veterans Day visit to Borden, yet during a housing meeting, staff told veterans to get online for housing searches no less than five times while computers are locked up in the library.
As a MANA House resident and front desk clerk ($300/mo. stipend) I was afforded a rare opportunity to be on both sides of the Grant & Per Diem program. What I experienced at Borden Ave is an environment of despair. I believe that there are simply too many veterans suffering too many various mental health and drug/abuse issues to substantiate such a large space better suited for either a proper homeless shelter or as a VA-funded GPD transitional veterans’ program but not both. It would be my suggestion to designate a section at the 30th street shelter (Bellevue) for individuals with military background with a referral to Borden Ave only after they have been properly vetted for the GPD program. Veterans who violated the Code of Conduct would be transferred back to Belview. Non-VA eligible veterans who display a willingness to adopt and engage in the program would be afforded an opportunity to transfer to Borden Ave. with:
- Relaxed security
- A strict Code of Conduct
- Classes on VA benefits, community resources, and housing searches
- Shuttle with driver (shopping, VA appointments, community events)
- Ready access to the kitchen and personal food items
- Clothing and laundry facilities
- Ready access to the library and online resources
- Classes on filling out rental applications, applying for employment and education opportunities
- An individual veteran’s navigator program of other veterans (students, community
- organizations)
- Ready access to mental health counseling (walk-in)
- Designated spaces inside the facility (TV room, meeting room)
- Outside the facility (smoking area)
There is a large group of veterans who do not feel safe at that facility and management is not responding in a way to assure the safety of the veterans. I assisted a veteran who had been assaulted on a subway while at Bellevue before being sent to Borden Ave. just before the Thanksgiving holiday. Although he is a GPD veteran, he was placed in a bunk in an open bay. When I found him, he was sleeping on the sidewalk across the street because he didn’t feel safe. I attempted to have him placed in a cubicle for his own safety but was refused because “he’s not a GPD veteran.” The following day, the veteran again left the facility and was again assaulted in Manhattan. It took management five days to place the veteran in a cubicle.
Many veterans at Borden Ave were given no choice of either be at Borden Ave or be on the streets which I have documented. This creates an atmosphere of despair and loss of hope.
The staff is rigid in their approach to the unique challenges that veterans present in going from homeless to homeness. Most veterans I spoke with have no idea what is happening with their HUD/VASH voucher process,other housing opportunities, and then being provided inaccurate information as to community services and resources while told to “suck it up” and “be a man” from peer support counselors.
While veterans are naturally resilient, it is not for staff to set broad goals for vulnerable veterans and then deny them the opportunities to be successful. As I also experienced, veterans are not being afforded any follow up information, so resources we are receiving are not being properly explained. I found an unusually high number of veteran recidivism in and out of the shelter and GPD program that I attribute to lack of proper preparation for a successful exit from the program. A great start would be an individual ‘wants’ assessment provided by the veteran rather than a ‘needs’ assessment by shelter staff. I would also suggest allowing those veterans that would like to immediately leave the facility to be allowed to either return to Bellevue or better suited accommodations, especially for those veterans
in wheelchairs and those who do not feel safe at Borden Ave.
As a veteran who has studied trends in veteran suicide, it is my opinion that Borden Ave. is a hotbed for suicide. Veterans are being subjected to undignified treatment from staff and management detrimental to the mental health and welfare of a GPD program that is funded with taxpayer dollars and overseen by Veterans Affairs. In my opinion, this is a crisis and needs immediate attention.
Timothy Pena
Veterans Justice Project
(602)663-6456