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Under a makeshift white tent at the corner of 86th Street and 25th Avenue in Brooklyn, dozens of local residents sit in folding chairs. American flags are planted around them. It’s a scorching July 23 afternoon with temperatures reaching upwards of 80 degrees. Still, residents endure the heat as they sit beneath a large banner that reads: “Fight Against Proposed Homeless Shelter at 25 Ave. & 86 St.”
The shelter, proposed by the city in December 2023, would house 150 single men experiencing homelessness, including those with mental health challenges. Many residents argued that the proposed location, which is close to schools, a subway station, and a senior center, posed serious risks to public safety and quality of life.
The residents have maintained their encampment for over a year, since July 17, 2024, when several protesters, along with Councilmember Susan Zhuang, were arrested during a scuffle with police over a planned homeless shelter at that corner in the district. Zhuang, who bit an officer during the altercation, later had her charges, along with those of other arrested individuals, dismissed.
Since then, the protests have continued daily, with anywhere from a dozen to several hundred participants. The issue has become a defining example of civic engagement in Southern Brooklyn’s Chinese American community and a focal point for political power struggles in the district.
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The recent rise of Republican influence in the area, highlighted by the election of Chinese American GOP lawmakers Lester Chang and Steve Chan, who unseated Democratic incumbents, also reflects the residents’ shifting political tides. And now, as the mayoral race begins to take shape, many in the neighborhood are shifting their attention to the election, hoping to end up with a candidate who will take their concerns about the homeless shelter seriously.
In June, progressive upstart Zohran Mamdani scored a surprise victory in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor. He won in heavily Chinese communities, including in Bensonhurst, where the proposed homeless shelter would be built.
After the election, many Chinese voters, particularly older residents, told Documented that the shelter remains a decisive issue for them in the mayoral race, and Mamdani’s platform for addressing the city’s growing homelessness crisis has failed to resonate with them. Some said they questioned whether his proposals were truly achievable, or simply an idealistic vision that may be hard to reach.
“Mamdani is selling the young generation a fantasy,” said Senator Steve Chan to Documented, “You know, reality is often disappointing.”
Throughout his campaign, Mamdani focused on the soaring cost of living and laid out a series of plans to make the city more affordable, winning the support of many Gen-Z and first-time voters. He did not place strong emphasis on issues like homelessness and public safety, which also rank high on voters’ concerns.
Still, his platform includes plans to create a department of Community Safety and to deploy more outreach workers, instead of police, to engage with homeless New Yorkers in the subway system, as well as build publicly subsidized, permanently affordable, union-built, rent-stabilized homes instead of temporary shelters. Both plans are aimed at addressing the crisis that has plagued the city.
As of this May, 106,875 people slept each night in NYC shelters and thousands more slept unsheltered in public spaces, according to estimates from the Coalition for the Homeless, one of the oldest advocacy and direct service organizations helping homeless individuals and families in the country. They note that homelessness in New York City has reached the highest level since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The State Comptroller’s Office also reported that in 2024, there were 158,019 homeless New Yorkers — about 8 per 1,000 residents — a rate higher than every state except Hawaii and the District of Columbia, and nearly four times the national average. Between January 2022 and January 2024, the number of homeless individuals in New York more than doubled, driven largely by a surge of asylum seekers arriving in New York City during that period, according to the office.
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Melissa Yu, an independent voter who participated in the protests against the proposed homeless shelter in Bensonhurst, said the community members’ strong opposition isn’t rooted in a lack of compassion for homeless individuals. Rather, it’s about the shelter’s design and location.
“This shelter is intended for 150 single men with mental health issues, and placing it near a senior center, schools, and a subway station is simply inappropriate,” she said in Mandarin. “We’re not against building shelters, we just think this location is the wrong choice.”
Kenny Pang, a Democrat who has lived in the neighborhood for 27 years, said affordable housing is “the only solution” to New York City’s homelessness crisis. But this idea isn’t unique to Mamdani, he noted: “Cuomo said it, Sliwa said it also.” Pang added that when dealing with homeless individuals who have mental health challenges and may exhibit violent behavior, he believes police intervention is more effective than relying solely on social workers. Some studies have pointed out that rental assistance and supportive services are proven solutions for homelessness.
Lina Chen, a community activist who recently switched her party affiliation from Democrat to Republican and is against a different proposed homeless shelter in Sheepshead Bay, echoed Pang’s concern.
“Replacing police with social workers is unrealistic,” she said in Mandarin. “How can social workers respond to physical attacks? Words alone don’t work in some situations. Some people are violent. Police are trained and equipped to handle those situations. It would be better for social workers to assist later, after the police have secured the situation.”
Chen also questioned Mamdani’s housing proposals, calling them “just a rebranding of shelters.” “He’s using softer language to make it sound good, but in reality, it’s still about building shelters, just in a more palatable way.”
Jacky Wong, a longtime protester against a planned shelter at 91 East Broadway in Chinatown and newly elected Democratic district leader, shared a similar view. He argued that the Democratic Party’s past policies on homelessness have “proven to be failures,” and said Mamdani is repeating those same mistakes.
“I haven’t seen any system besides the police that can handle this issue,” Wong said. “Even the West Coast is more progressive and ahead of New York, and their homelessness problem is worse.” (Note: A recent report by CalMatters showed that California’s homelessness population grew by 3%, totaling more than 187,000 people in 2024. However, another report by USC claimed that homelessness in Los Angeles County declined for the second consecutive year due to several factors, including more people accessing shelters and more permanent housing placements.)
Among voters who are following the 86th Street homeless shelter issue, many said they feel more aligned with the positions of former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, both of whom have publicly opposed the proposed shelter. Still, many of the voters who spoke with Documented said they remain undecided.
In May, Cuomo visited a Chinese senior center in Southern Brooklyn and voiced his opposition to the shelter, receiving an endorsement from Democratic Councilmember Zhuang and Assemblymember William Colton. Sliwa, meanwhile, has made regular appearances at both large and small protests against different shelters citywide over the past few years, gaining support from Republican Senator Chan and Assemblymember Chang.
Jay Cheng is a Democrat who has lived in South Brooklyn for over a decade. “I’m still observing,” he said about the mayoral candidates. “During campaigns, everyone promises this or that.” Cheng said he plans to make his final decision closer to the general election day, and will vote for whichever candidate — Andrew Cuomo or Curtis Sliwa — has a better chance of winning, based on polling data.
Despite Mamdani currently leading in the polls, Linda Yuan, a South Brooklyn Democrat who opposes the proposed homeless shelter, said Mamdani is not under consideration. “I don’t really know him. He’s new, and maybe a lot of young people voted for him,” Yuan said. “But he’s never addressed the homeless shelter issue here. We don’t want to take that risk, we want someone who clearly says ‘yes’ to our demands.”
Meanwhile, another mayoral candidate, incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, has drawn even stronger vocal opposition from many Chinese voters from South Brooklyn, despite backing from some Chinese community leaders in Manhattan’s Chinatown and Flushing following past corruption scandals and other political missteps.
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On July 28, Adams made his third official campaign stop in the Chinese community on 8th Avenue in Brooklyn, organized by “Chinese American & AAPI for Mayor Eric Adams” and accompanied by Winnie Greco, the former Director of Asian Affairs for Mayor Adams who is currently under investigation following reports by THE CITY, Documented, and The Guardian that alleged she attempted to improperly profit from her government role.
At the rally, Adams told attendees he understands and listens to the community’s concerns. But across the street, a much larger group of about 200 protesters, many of whom were from Bensonhurst, gathered to chant “Adams, go home” and denounced his policies on homelessness and the corruption they believed underlies homeless shelter projects.
Also Read: Adams Kicks Off Campaign with Swipe at Mamdani: ‘Blue Collar vs. Silver Spoon’
Senator Chan and Assemblymember Chang also appeared at the protest in solidarity with their constituents. They emphasized that their opposition was not personal toward Adams, but instead a rejection of his shelter policies.
“Many of my constituents and many Chinese residents citywide feel that Adams is tone-deaf on this issue,” said Chan to Documented. “People have been protesting outside this proposed shelter site for over a year, and he’s ignored them. He’s turned homelessness into a huge business.”
Chan said he wasn’t accusing the mayor of any illegal activity, but expressed concern about systemic issues and potential corruption within the current homeless shelter system. “I can only imagine how many people are putting money in their pockets along the way,” said Chan.
Last year, THE CITY, Documented, and The Guardian reported that a Chinese hotel owner received millions of dollars in city contracts to convert her hotels into homeless shelters after raising funds for Eric Adams’ mayoral campaign.
Assemblymember Lester Chang echoed those concerns, saying that Adams’ policies on homelessness have cost him support across the city. He has instead proposed offering housing vouchers and using existing facilities to house migrants and those with mental illness. Chang, like Chan, expressed support for Sliwa and additionally suggested a contentious proposal to convert Rikers Island into a treatment facility for homeless individuals who suffer from mental health issues or substance addiction. “Change the name Rikers Island to Hope Island […] Relocate all these people to Rikers Island and give them a treatment center [there],” Chang said, “ You give them a separate environment until they’re ready to get back in.”
Councilmember Zhuang said her constituents in Brooklyn have been disappointed by Adams’ broken promises, including Adams’ past support as Brooklyn Borough President for the long-delayed Sunset Park archway project led by Winnie Greco. “I see no reason why Southern Brooklyn would vote for him,” said Zhuang. “Since taking office, Adams has failed to deliver on the promises he made to the Chinese community.”
For now, construction at the proposed homeless shelter site has been halted after the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) discovered asbestos earlier this year.
Many of the regulars at the encampment site are elderly residents who live nearby. They stop by daily to sit under the tent and monitor the fenced-off lot. Some have grown used to the prolonged wait without answers. “After 372 consecutive days of protest, the city has yet to provide a resolution,” said Yuan, sitting inside the tent. “But we can’t just give up, we need to fight till the end.”
The post Mamdani Won Big with Chinese Communities in South Brooklyn, But Faces a Tough Road Ahead appeared first on Documented.
