New York City plans to place 110 single homeless men in a Brooklyn shelter without running criminal background checks, according to a new report, a decision that has drawn sharp concern from neighbors who say they fear added safety problems in their otherwise quiet community.
The site, formerly the Gold Star Inn in Sheepshead Bay, has been used for about a year as a shelter for families. It could begin accepting single adult men as soon as next week after the city’s Department of Homeless Services opted to move out the 55 families currently staying there, the New York Post first reported.
The planned change has unsettled some people living nearby, who told the Post they believe crime has already increased since the shelter opened and worry that shifting the facility to single men could make conditions worse.
A person sleeps on a sidewalk on January 26, 2026, in the Manhattan borough of New York City. (Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)
“People are breaking into cars, people are destroying the park, taking their pants down in the park,” Fahad, a 30-year-old plumber from nearby Brighton Beach, told the outlet. “It used to be very quiet.”
NYPD figures show that shooting incidents in the 61st Precinct, which covers Sheepshead Bay, have climbed to five so far this year — a 400% jump from the same point in 2025. Reported rapes have increased from eight to 16, and retail theft is up 10%.
At the same time, total crime across the precinct is down roughly 7% so far this year compared with the same period in 2025, according to NYPD data.
Neighbors have also raised objections over the city’s decision not to screen incoming shelter residents for criminal backgrounds.
A man with his belongings in shopping carts sits along a street near a shelter for the homeless in New York, the United States, on Nov. 21, 2025. (Zhang Fengguo/Xinhua via Getty Images)
“The Department of Homeless Services confirmed that no criminal background vetting will take place, leaving room for potential sex offenders and convicted felons to come in contact with our children,” Republican City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov wrote in a letter to the city’s Department of Social Services (DSS) last week.
Vernikov argued the conversion would be “devastating” for the surrounding community, citing concerns about loitering, drug activity and crime near the shelter, which sits across the street from Lew Fidler Park, a popular neighborhood playground.
Ginny, a resident who declined to give her last name, told the Post that “not checking the background is not very diligent of the city.”
“How can [they] say they are protecting children when they allow that? There are also elderly people who can be targets,” she said.
Another neighbor, Olga Adynets, said someone recently released from prison is already staying at the shelter.
“I don’t want it to get worse. I’m worried,” she said.
The shelter is operated by BHRAGS, a nonprofit that has faced federal scrutiny after its former executive director Roberto Samedy and former board chairman Jean Ronald Tirelus were indicted earlier this year on charges including wire fraud, embezzlement and accepting illicit payments.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani is seen speaking during an interview. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Despite the investigation, Mayor Zohran Mamdani awarded the organization nearly $200 million in new city contracts in June, according to the Post.
City officials told the outlet the shelter conversion reflects changing demand, with fewer families entering the shelter system and more single adult men requiring housing. Officials also said BHRAGS is under new leadership after the city reduced the nonprofit’s shelter portfolio.
“The agency continues to address the prevalent stigma against single adult men experiencing homelessness,” a DSS spokesperson told The Post. “The agency also implements good neighbor policies while maintaining open lines of communication with the community to address any concerns as they arise.”
INC News has reached out to the mayor’s office and DSS for comment.
