Daily News from New York, New York • 81

SlT(OXQ) j.nii Oaily News. Tuesday. July 27. 1982 Nt fill 'iffc- i I Former PS 63 currently provides shelter for over 300 persons a night despite community opposition. lew York 5 -i iiilllPillllil shelter won't close down By JAMES HARNEY The controversial homeless-men's shelter on Wil-.

liams Ave. in East New York- the subject of strong community protest since it opened last October will remain open indefinitely, even though a new $7 million, 400-bed men's shelter will be unveiled this morning on Wards Island, city officials said yesterday. When the city's Human Resources Administration opened the shelter in the former PS 63 building at 116 Williams Ave. last Oct 21, officials called it a "temporary" move that was made necessary by a State Supreme Court order to provide emergency shelter for the homeless. But despite outcries from residents, civic leaders and elected officials in East New York that it was -slipped into the community without local consent and has since filled the surrounding area with wandering, potentially dangerous derelicts, the shelter has remained.

IN THE FACE OF such protest, HRA Commissioner Jack Krauskopf said last fall that the city was "continuing to look at potential sites for shelters" and pointed out at the time that the 400-bed shelter on Wards Island was under construction. However, now that the $7 million Donald Schwartz Building part of the newly-named Charles H. Gay Shelter Care Center for men that will be shown to the press at 11 a.m. today is complete, HRA officials say there are no plans to close any of the city's other men's shelters, including the one in Brooklyn. "Given the number of people who have been arriving to use shelters, we anticipate heavier, not lighter demand in the months to come," said a spokesman for Krauskopf.

"We've had about 600 more men and women community and the way they have lied to us all along," said Wooten, a Democratic candidate for City Council in the newly-created 24th District for one, knew all along that they wanted it to be permanent, because I saw some of the renovations they've made in the building 6ince they moved in." Opposition to the East New York shelter started with mass community rallies and confrontations with Krauskopf and other officials and graduated to candlelight vigils and demonstrations around the desolate shelter site, but has now died down considerably. Wooten indicated, however, that "legal action against the city is being contemplated." The HRA spokesman said that even though the new Schwartz building is being publicly unveiled for the first time today, it has actually been nearly fully occupied since May, and that only the kitchen and dining facilities have not yet been put into use. "Winter is coming and we expect an even heavier turnout of people who need shelter," she said. "We're holding onto all the space we have right now." Approximately 3,000 men and 400 women are fed and housed each night in the city's nine shelters and a handful of flophouses that contract with the These figures represent about a 40 Increase 6ince last year. seeking to use our shelters this year than we did at this time last year," the spokesman said.

"And in our planning for this coming winter, we intend to maintain the provisions of the consent agreement (court order) and provide shelter for all those who apply." She explained that last Sunday night the city lodged 2,975 men in a variety of shelters, including 1,131 in various lodging houses in Manhattan, 761 at Camp LaGuardia in upstate Chester, 727 at the Keener Building on Wards Island, 342 at the East New York shelter and 15 in the infirmary at the men's shelter on the Bowery in Manhattan. BUT DESPITE THE HRA'S contention that the Brooklyn shelter, is desperately needed, community leaders are still clamoring for its removal from the schooL building, which had been slated to become part of an industrial.park before the HRA's emergency takeover. "I'm not surprised when the city says it is going to unveil a new shelter and do nothing about a shelter that they stuffed down our throats," said Priscilla Wooten, a community activist and political hopeful who has been in the vanguard of local opposition to the Williams Ave. shelter. "This is typical of the disregard they have for our.