|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
By: Serach Nissim
The city Department of Homeless Services was called out for doling out lucrative contracts to a firm led by a sibling of a top administrator.
As reported by the NY Post, Westhab Inc., a Yonkers-based company which runs homeless shelters in the city, has been awarded 17 city contracts worth a whopping$1.7 billion. The company’s vice president Valerie Smith, is the sister of longtime Homeless Service Administrator Joslyn Carter. Carter has been a top administrator at the Department of Homeless Services since 2017.
Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens) demanded an investigation by the Department of Investigation and Conflicts of Interest Board, saying the close relationship between the city homeless services top administrator and a top contractor awarded to do business with the agency should be looked into. Data compiled by city Comptroller Brad Lander’s office says that the 17 social service contracts were awarded to the firm by the DHS, for a total value of $1.7 billion, and many of those contracts were inked in recent years, with Smith working at the firm.
The city has been working to award more contracts over the last few years, as the COVID-19 pandemic has led to record homelessness, and more recently as the mass influx of illegal migrants have entered from the Southern border. Westhab was also awarded three other contracts by the Department of Youth and Community Development and two more by the Department of Education, for a total value of $4.7 million.
In a Feb. 8 letter to DOI and COIB, Holden said, “I recently learned from a credible source that the Department of Homeless Services Administrator Joslyn Carter is the sister of Westhab’s Vice President of New York City Shelter Programs, Valerie Smith. I am concerned that immediate family members can work on the same contract despite a potential conflict of interest.”
Holden also referenced Westhab’s shelter for 180 single men on Cooper Avenue in Glendale in his district — saying it has garnered incessant complaints of drug use, violence, masturbating in public and other public menacing. Over the summer, a CBS report had exposed the shelter’s woes. Holden said he had suspected something was off when he said he reached out to both Westhab and the city homeless agency officials, but failed to get a satisfactory response from either. “The whole thing stinks to high heaven. Why is Westhab getting all this money?,” Holden said Sunday. “It looks like they have someone on the inside. They’re protected.” He added, “They’re not doing a good job at the shelter on Cooper Avenue. It’s a mess over there.”
Holden told the investigative and ethics agencies that there were 1,500 calls to 911 about the shelter and 156 resident arrests. “As you know, corruption and criminal acts often occur in the social service industry. While I am not making any accusations against the two sisters, I would like your offices to investigate to ensure all parties follow regulations and laws,” Holden wrote in his letter.
Westhab and Smith did not comment for the Post.
The Department of Social Services/Homeless Services commented saying that while its true that Smith and Carter are sisters, there is no room for favoritism. “DSS-DHS follows strict policy and ensures compliance with all COIB and related rules and regulations, which means that the DHS Administrator had no role in the selection of Westhab as a partner through the competitive request for proposal process. Administrator Carter has always recused herself from any and all matters pertaining to the organization’s work with DSS-DHS,” the agency said in a statement.
