Advocacy Opportunity: Full-Service Bronx Animal Shelter

New York City has the highest population of individuals experiencing homelessness and yet no homeless shelters in NY allow animal companions.

Animal Care Centers, which operates NYC’s animal shelters, offers one of the only stop-gap measures to keep human-animal families intact in circumstances of homelessness. They offer pet retention programs that foster or board companion animals until they can be reunified with their family.

Without  NYC’s Animal Care Centers, many humans with animals cannot access services and are at risk for remaining unsheltered or having to surrender their companions. A full-service animal shelter with Animal Care Center services has been proposed to be constructed on Bartow Avenue in the Bronx. This historically under-served area continues to lack adequate services for the city’s animals. With the help of this new shelter there is a potential to save thousands of animal's lives a year through its preventive community programs and support NYC’s homeless population. The shelter would also be a community resource, offering services such as community training and education, surrender prevention counseling, and community programming for youth and seniors.

If the Bartow Avenue site is not approved, this will force the city to go back to the drawing board to identify sites and delay the shelter for several years. Leaving some of NYC’s most vulnerable residents out in the cold.

At this time the Bronx animal shelter Land-Use Subcommittee hearing is scheduled for October 9th at 2 PM in the Council Chambers at City Hall. Please consider attending to testify in favor of the shelter!

In the meantime, use the contact info and conversation prompts below to contact your representatives and show your support for New Yorkers experiencing homelessness and the non-human animal residents of New York!

Corey Johnson, Speaker (District Office: 212-564-7757; Legislative Office: 212-788-7210)
Erik Bottcher, Corey Johnson’s Chief of Staff (212-564-7757)
Jason Goldman, Corey Johnson’s Deputy Chief of Staff
Chris Coffey, Corey Johnson’s Senior Strategist

Jeff Campagna, Deputy General Counsel, Land Use Division (212-482-5438)
Mark Levine, Chair, Committee on Health (212-928-6814)
Paul Vallone, Chair, Committee on Economic Development (718-619-8611)
Rafael Salamanca, Chair, Land Use Committee (718-402-6130)
Francisco Moya, Council Member, District 21 (718-651-1917)