Protectors of homeless face own squalor

Homeless shelter security guards are looking for a little shelter of their own — from their squalid work conditions. Homeless Service Department guards — known as special officers — say Mayor de Blasio should renovate the city’s existing shelters before pushing ahead with his controversial plan to build 90 new ones.

Photographs obtained by the Daily News from inside city shelters show trash-filled spaces, crumbling bathrooms and cramped coed locker rooms for the officers.

Roughly 800 special officers police the city’s 674 shelters — many of which are decades old.

Some of the most offensive conditions are found in the residences for the mentally ill and chemically addicted, known as MICA shelters, according to several officers who spoke to The News.

“Everything is really small and tight, there’s not even an office space,” a guard said.

“It’s not adequate to what we do. We make arrests, we deal with violent crimes, and the areas set aside for us are not sufficient. Half the time we don’t even have a place to eat.”

In many city shelters, male and female officers are forced to share a small locker room, the special officers said.

Kingsboro Men’s Shelter in Prospect Lefferts Garden in Brooklyn — run by the Salvation Army — has some of the most egregious conditions, the Homeless Services Department officers said.

One picture from the site featured a gaping hole in a ceiling above a shower filled with broken bits of plaster.

It’s the shared bathroom used by the site’s officers and its civilian workers, the officers said. Mold and water damage streak the wall above the bathroom mirror.

“The women have to use this as well as the men,” one officer said.

In another picture, a room that’s supposed to be for guards to use contains an ironing board, a floor cleaner, cardboard boxes and more.

The Kingsboro Men’s Shelter is actually two facilities across a shared courtyard — and in order to move between them quickly, the officers have to tie open one of the doors with a piece of twine.

“One is a MICA shelter, and a lot of times when an officer needs extra help, if a client gets violent, for example, we’ll call to the officers in the adjacent shelter to come help,” said a veteran Homeless Services Department guard.

But because the officers don’t have the key to the door — they have to keep it tied open, for their safety and that of the civilian workers and clients inside.

“We have no other way to access the two buildings in a

As mayor plans to build 90 homeless shelters, security guards say much should be done at existing sites, including one run by Salvation Army. Tiny offices (r.) and officers’ space used as storage areas (main photo) are among complaints.