Pattern of deceit
State rips city on shelter info
LAST AUGUST, a homeless shelter resident was fatally stabbed in a street confrontation with a once-famous rapper named Kidd Creole, police reported.
In December, a shelter employee was arrested on charges of sexually abusing two female residents of a Brooklyn shelter run by the city.
The city is required by law to let the state know about serious incidents like these, but the Department of Homeless Services opted not to inform the state about either one.
Instead, the state learned of the stabbing and the sex abuse from the press.
Behind the scenes, the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance warned the city it was in noncompliance with reporting requirements, according to emails the Daily News obtained.
On Tuesday, the state office revealed the city has on “multiple” occasions failed to report serious shelter incidents, and warned the de Blasio administration that it faces possible sanctions and penalties as a result.
“There were multiple instances where incidents in the shelter system were reported in the news where (the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance) in writing notified (Homeless Services) that reports had not been filed with the state,” office Executive Deputy Commissioner Barbara Guinn wrote in a letter to city Social Services Commissioner Steve Banks.
The state’s letter follows The News’ revelation last week that city Homeless Services officials failed to disclose hundreds of arrests and other serious incidents that occurred inside and around shelters.
Since that report, Banks has continued to insist the state had approved of the agency’s reporting protocols. The state denies this, and made clear Tuesday that Homeless Services appears to be hiding incidents that, by law, it’s required to report.
In her letter, Guinn slammed the city, citing a pattern of deceit. “It is your legal responsibility to provide the information in the form prescribed,” she wrote. “We will also ask you to attest to the accuracy of the information given your past deception.”
Guinn noted the two incidents that the office only learned about via the press.
On Aug. 3, ex-rapper Kidd Creole was charged with stabbing a resident of the Manhattan Safe Haven shelter in a dispute that took place off-site.
In an internal email obtained by The News, a Disability Assistance staffer asked a Homeless Services staffer that day, “Can you confirm this was a shelter resident? If it was we will need a report asap.” The Homeless Services staffer responded that the city didn’t report the incident because it “occurred offsite and qualifies as a Priority 2 incident.”
Disability Assistance says it does not recognize this “Priority 2” designation and said state regulations require that all incidents in which shelter residents are seriously injured or killed — on or off site — must be reported.
“Just . . . remember for us the reporting requirements are the same for any serious incident. Please forward the report when it’s ready,” the Disability Assistance staffer warned.
Then, on Dec. 5, Disability Assistance asked the city why it hadn’t reported the arrest of a Homeless Services staffer charged with sexually abusing two residents of a shelter in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
Noting media coverage of the arrest, a top Disability Assistance staffer wrote to the city Human Resources Administration, which runs the shelter with Homeless Services, “I don’t have a record of an incident report. I’ll need that ASAP and any other information on how this was handled.”
A day later, the human resources agency admitted in an email that “No P1 incident report was created,” an apparent reference to Priority 1. The Disability Assistance official responded, “The incident clearly falls under the reporting requirements outlined (by law). Please forward a completed incident report asap.”
Following The News’ exposé, the city announced the NYPD will now report building-specific incidents to the state and precinct-level data to the public. The Disability Assistance letter Tuesday says that’s not acceptable. De Blasio spokeswoman Jaclyn Rothenberg responded, “It is bizarre for the state to refuse direct reporting on shelter arrests from the NYPD. (Homeless Services) will compile and transmit the necessary reports and we will post NYPD arrest data online for everyone to see.”