Queens neighborhood rages at shelter plan

Once again the de Blasio administration has infuriated a New York neighborhood during its “community outreach” to open another new homeless shelter.

Residents of Ozone Park, Queens, say the Department of Homeless Service misled them about its intention to open a 113-bed shelter for mentally ill men in a former church parish center by the end of this year.

On May 29, community leader Sam Esposito says a Homeless Services official assured him there were no such plans, but on June 4 the agency switched narratives and notified local elected officials that was, in fact, the plan.

On Thursday night, hundreds of locals were planning to confront city officials about this at a town hall.

Esposito, a former community board member for decades, said the community is aware of the desperate need to find housing for the homeless and told the city they were willing to accept a shelter at that site for families.

“Now we can’t trust them,” he said. “How can we believe them when they manipulated us and lied to us?”