Salvation Army Residence Programs STATEMENT On January 18th remaining residents at The Salvation Army’s Parkside and Ten Eyck residences in Manhattan were served with eviction notices. The serving of these notices is a required part of the legal process we must follow as we close these residence programs and prepare these buildings for sale. These residences were bought and renovated by The Salvation Army in 1954 and 1963. The city and our society were very different then. Providing safe residences and programs for working women of moderate means which was in keeping with The Salvation Army’s mission of providing wholistic aid and support to those in need. New York City has changed. Providing this type of housing in affluent areas of midtown Manhattan does not help us meet the greatest needs of our constituents, nor is it fiscally responsible. We have invested in the buildings and the infrastructure over the years and have worked very hard to maintain these buildings. They however are extremely costly to maintain and more so because they are in Manhattan. By reducing our carrying costs and redeploying the assets gained from the sale of these buildings we will be able to expand programs in needy areas and create necessary programs needs are greatest and fit our mission and service profile. Through expansion of such programs, plus the building of a Kroc Community Center, and 375 units of senior housing we will be able to meet the needs of thousands more New Yorkers every year. What have we done to help the tenants? We have had caseworkers helping these people for over a year and we have provided furnishings, moving costs and other matters of support to those who needed help to make the moves. We continue to work with tenants on relocation. We are doing everything we can to help those in need in our city and no person is being thrown out onto the streets. Several tenants who wish to take advantage of the situation have banded together and have initiated legal action that will garner media attention. We will not battle this matter in the press, but will continue, through our actions, to show compassionate care for all. The Salvation Army in Greater New York serves over 600.000 thousand boys, girls, men and women in the region every year. We have seven Adult Rehabilitation Centers (ARCs), located in Poughkeepsie, the Bronx, Mt. Vernon, Hempstead, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island. The ARCs operate 40 thrift stores in these geographic areas to support residential rehabilitation and substance abuse programs for a collective capacity of 640 individuals. Our 38 corps community centers, offer a wide variety of services to the community, including day-care programs, after-school programs, computer labs, youth activities, literacy and job-training programs, and much more. In addition to these programs and facilities, we operate in some fifty-five other locations, where we provide shelter for the homeless; congregate care services for adolescents; services to those coping with HIV/AIDS; counseling to families in crisis; foster boarding home and adoption services; and more. Along with all of these things, The Salvation Army’s Emergency Disaster Services teams stand ready to serve in times of emergency. They are a familiar sight supporting neighbors, police and fire departments at disasters large and small in Greater New York, around the country and throughout the world. |
