The New York City Department of Homeless Services recently completed renovation on a “first-of-its-kind” shelter exclusively for veterans in the city’s homeless shelter system. Working in conjunction with the Mayor’s Office of Veteran’s Affairs (MOVA) and the U.S. Veteran’s Administration, the doors opened officially on November 11, 2007 (Veteran’s Day) to 243 homeless men and, yes, women at the former Borden Avenue Veterans’ Residence in Long Island City, Queens. This new shelter is distinguished from others by the fact that each veteran is afforded his or her own, private sleeping and work unit comprised of a bed, locker, desk and personal storage – each unit providing four walls and a lockable entry for privacy. The heart of the system is a flexible, demountable metal partition system which facilitated quick assembly and rigid quality control. All design and construction was performed by the Facilities Maintenance and Development unit within the Department of Homeless Services under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner Bob Skallerup and was completed in a record setting 180 days from inception in order to meet the unmovable deadline of November 11.

Borden Avenue is essentially the initial phase in a larger commitment by the Mayor, the VA and the Department of Homeless Services to provide exclusive shelter and supportive housing to more than 1000 homeless NYC veterans. And to further this goal, it was announced at the shelter on April 23, 2008 by the Mayor, U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs Secretary Mr. James Peake and HUD Deputy Secretary Mr. Roy Bernardi that $9.4 million would be received by New York City to administer the joint work of these agencies.