Gowanus Migrant Shelter Allowed to Open With Outdated Fire Inspection

This article was originally published on April 18 at 5 a.m. EDT by THE CITY

The fire alarm system in a new 400-bed migrant shelter next to Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal that’s housing migrants is not currently up to fire code, but the FDNY okayed opening it because the provider agreed to put a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week fire watch guard in place.

The firm providing security at the shelter, FJC Security Services, however, is currently the subject of two probes by the city Department of Investigation over allegations that they have billed the city Housing Authority for security guards and fire guards who weren’t actually on duty at developments across the city, THE CITY has learned.

Questions about the fire alarm system at the 130 3rd Street shelter, which has been housing migrants for the last two weeks, emerged in the documents the city Department of Buildings (DOB) officials relied on when they granted the shelter operator, BHRAGS Health Care, a temporary certificate of occupancy (TCO).

The February 19 application for a TCO included a fire department inspection signing off on the alarm system in place at the site. But that inspection took place a year and a half earlier, in August 2022, when the building was a mostly empty factory — not a 400-bed residential shelter.

The shelter opened April 2 with that system unchanged. According to a department source familiar with the matter, the FDNY was not confident that the existing alarm system met the criteria required for a shelter.

The FDNY gave the provider a list of concerns of things to fix, agreeing to allow the shelter to open anyway because the provider agreed to put a 24/7 fire guard system in place while it addressed the required fixes.

An FDNY spokesperson declined to provide details of the department’s concerns, but in a response to THE CITY’s questions stated, “We are working with our agency partners to assure the safety of the occupants of the shelter as the location comes into compliance with the Fire Alarm System.”

Between the existing fire alarm system and the 24/7 presence of fire guards, “a site can safely provide services to individuals while working to bring relevant infrastructure up to code,” the FDNY spokesperson said.

Department of Buildings spokesperson Andrew Rudansky said DOB “has the authority to issue a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy when temporary safety measures are implemented.” City building and fire codes “allow for occupancy of a building with the presence of fire guards, in situations where the fire alarm system is being serviced.”

Problems at NYCHA

FJC Security Services is also known as Allied Universal Security Services, the company that is currently the subject of the two DOI probes. FJC often provides fire guard service and did so for NYCHA as part of a contract that’s now the subject of these investigations.

In 2019, the city Housing Authority awarded FJC a $76 million contract to perform security and fire watch at dozens of public housing developments, records show. The contract, which was to terminate in November 2022, included an option to retain the firm for two more years.

The contract was renewed for one year, but at some point last year, both NYCHA and the independent monitor overseeing NYCHA, Guidepost Solutions, looked into a variety of allegations about the firm, including FJC’s billing practices.

In a February report, the monitor stated his investigators “conducted an extensive review of NYCHA’s contract with, and employment of the security companies it hired, and their work as security and fire watch guards.”

The monitor stated that his investigators discovered “numerous instances of security company personnel not reporting to work, leaving their posts early, fraudulently filling out time and attendance documents, and other possibly illegal activities.”

A source familiar with that investigation identified the firm in question as FJC, and said that investigators had discovered that FJC was billing the authority for fire watch guards at some developments who weren’t actually on duty.

NYCHA officials said they, too, were aware of concerns about FJC before the monitor raised the issue, and that in September 2023 NYCHA began winding down its work with the firm, according to NYCHA spokesperson Michael Horgan.

“NYCHA’s contract with Allied/FJC expires in November of this year, but the Authority is no longer using them as a vendor for any services at any location,” Horgan noted.

FJC did not respond to multiple calls from THE CITY seeking comment. As of late Wednesday, the Department of Social Services, which oversees city shelter facilities, was unable to describe FJC’s role at the Gowanus shelter.

The monitor and NYCHA referred their findings to DOI. Diane Struzzi, a spokesperson for DOI,  declined to discuss specifics of the ongoing probe, but stated, “In light of several sources of information, as well as the monitor’s referral, DOI is currently conducting two investigations relating to a security company and expects to issue a public report, likely by the end of the summer, once we have finalized our findings and developed recommendations.”

Other Safety Concerns

Fire safety concerns have surfaced at other migrant shelters over the last few months. In October the FDNY shut down a 300-bed migrant shelter at the former St. John Villa Academy in Staten Island and a 130-bed shelter at a former Touro College building in Midtown due to fire safety concerns. Neither building had an adequate fire suppression system, and officials worried about reports that residents were using hot plates, charging lithium-ion batteries and overloading extension cords.

The Gowanus shelter also happens to sit alongside the notoriously noxious Gowanus Canal and adjacent to the former site of a gas manufacturing plant that’s one of the most contaminated lots in New York City. Because of this, the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) put the building on a list of 300 sites around the Gowanus set to be tested for possible toxic contamination. Contaminants have been discovered in the soil of the former gas plant next door and DEC is concerned that they may have migrated to other sites, which could then percolate up into buildings.

In October, DEC notified the building owner, David Levitan, of its intent to access the property to test for so-called “soil vapor intrusion.” As THE CITY reported last week, that testing had yet to begin even though the shelter was housing dozens of migrant men.

The Department of Social Services, which hired the nonprofit BHRAGS Health Care to run the shelter, has said the landlord did his own testing and “found that there is no indication that there’s a current health risk to occupants,” Adams’ chief of staff, Camille Joseph Varlack, said last week.

And Varlack noted that the state Office of Disability and Temporary Assistance signed off on the shelter before any migrants moved in. 

Asked about the issue of the fire alarm system not yet meeting the fire code there, Anthony Farmer, a spokesperson for OTDA, stated, “OTDA thoroughly reviews security and safety features, including fire safety, as part of its inspection process prior to certifying a shelter can open. As stated previously, this shelter was approved to open on April 2, in compliance with state regulations.”

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