'Scene from the zombie movie': a camp for the homeless appears in Manhattan

The homeless have set up camp under the FDR Drive. This sight resembles a scene from a zombie movie, eyewitnesses say. The newspaper writes about what made people settle in this camp and why they do not want to go to shelters. New York Post.

The camp stretches south from Catherine Slip to Pier 11. Here, the homeless have set up their temporary shelters with homemade furniture and mattresses. There is even a barbecue on the territory of the camp, where its residents prepare breakfast. “In the afternoon, they leave, most of them, in a small park across the street,” said 56-year-old museum guard Jesse Alberio, who lives in Smith Houses. “They build little houses with barricades. This is madness!"

With the onset of darkness, the situation worsens. Some vagrants, Alberio said, sneak into the building where he lives and relieve themselves in the stairwells. “At night it looks like a scene from a zombie movie. This is very scary! I will not come here at night, ”he said.

City officials seem to be aware of the problem. On the morning of Monday, July 27, the chief of the sanitary department came to the camp and took some photos using his mobile phone, but refused to answer questions.

The camp was discovered less than a week after NYPD raided and dispersed residents of the Occupy City Hall camp, and after a failed attempt to drive a group of vagrants out of the scaffolding in East -Village.

On the subject: Homeless on the streets of New York: the extent and causes of the problem

A Staten Island-based builder who is helping build the new Fulton fish market said the camp under the FDR Drive highway came shortly after its nearby work site was closed due to the coronavirus crisis. “I was shocked when I first saw it,” said the 39-year-old laborer. "They were here when we started a few weeks ago." He added: "Every morning we arrive here a little earlier than five, and the crowd leaves ... carrying everything they have with them."

One camp resident, 59-year-old Baldemar Santos, a native of Monterrey, Mexico, said he and several of his friends settled here after the pandemic broke out and they lost their jobs. “We worked in Chinese restaurants in the kitchen,” he said.

Despite all the assurances from Mayor Bill de Blasio that the situation is under control, the camp of the homeless is growing. “We have to survive. These are difficult times. Sometimes we have to go into buildings to get water or go to a store to steal food, ”says the homeless man.

Santos said many prefer camps to shelters because it eliminates the need to wait for a settlement that may or may not happen. It often happens that you wait your turn, "and then the lady will say, 'Sorry, there are no more beds.'

In addition, the shelters, he said, are "dangerous" and the situation in them "got out of control." There are even drug dealers among the residents of the shelters, and the security personnel "don't care."

The homeless man complained that people who “do not look like real homeless people” come to the camp under the highway. “They drink and play music all night,” he said. "They are causing trouble for my friends."

De Blasio said during his daily press conference on Monday that his administration "has set up a system that systematically ensures that camps are identified and provides all the people involved with the opportunity to come to the shelter and receive the services and support they need." “We've had a lot of turmoil in recent months, but we're going to make sure we get everything back in place, it's a citywide strategy,” he said.

As ForumDaily New York wrote earlier:

• Despite the fact that due to quarantine, the metro stopped working at night, and the homeless were left without an overnight stay, they still refused to go to shelters. Why - read here.
• There are approximately 3600 homeless people living in New York today. In December 2019, Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled a plan to “end homelessness on the streets as we know it” over the next five years. However, it’s not that simple. Read about what you need to do for this. in this publication.