A Tale of Two Transitions

In July 2022, Navy Veteran Timothy Pena came to New York City in search of a new start. As a veteran with service-connected PTSD and a former front desk clerk of a transitional program in Phoenix, he was confident that the Veterans Affairs Grant and Per Diem Transitional Program would provide a safe, drug-free environment with access to supportive services and housing resources to assist him in receiving the care he needed for a successful transition. What he encountered was a violent, drug-infested NYC Department of Homeless Services (DHS) city shelter with inedible food, a housing director who blames veterans for being homeless, no community engagement, and security sleeping in the halls. NYPD is a regular visitor for assaults, overdoses, even deaths.

In January 2024, the NYC Department of Investigation (DOI) revealed troubling issues in the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) and its management of the shelter system, costing the city an estimated $10.6 billion over three years. These risks vary in their severity, and include, among other things:

• Conflicts of interest affecting City money. DOI identified cases where insiders at the shelter provider had personal business interests involving the shelter through which they received payments outside their regular compensation.

• Poor City-wide controls over how City money is used for executive compensation. DOI identified multiple shelter executives who received more than $500,000 per year, and in some cases, more than $700,000 per year, from providers and related organizations.

• Numerous examples of nepotism, in violation of City contracts. DOI found shelter providers that have employed immediate family members of senior executives and board members, in apparent violation of their City contracts.

• Shelter providers failing to follow competitive bidding rules when procuring goods and services with public money. DOI found numerous cases where shelter providers did not comply with the City’s competition requirements or where it was unclear whether shelter providers conducted true competitive bidding processes.

Veterans Affairs Homeless Services Complicit

The veterans within the Borden Ave are being abused and threatened by NYC Department of Homeless Services and the NYC Institute of Community Living while Director of Homeless Services Karen Fuller has failed to address violations of criteria as described by Public Law 109-461. She has refused to file complaints with Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General and has allowed VA-eligible veterans to suffer insurmountable hardship in a violent, drug-infested city shelter with Level 2 and 3 sex offenders, gang members, and drug trafficking.  Many veterans have died in the VA program, yet no investigation has been conducted going so far as to terminate the membership of Timothy Pena from the NYC Veterans Task Force after he raised questions on the treatment he and other veterans received while in a Federally-funded transitional program.

Another report released by the Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General backs up these claims of misconduct reporting that 1 in 5 veterans are ‘disappearing’ from VA transitional programs, then unlawfully documented as a successful discharge. The following is a series of photos, FOIA responses, and information that compare what the GPD program as sanctioned and funded by the VA and Congress and that of what Pena experienced in NYC at the GPD program, Borden Avenue Veterans’ Residence during five months he spent there while his apartment sat empty waiting for him.

About the Author

Navy Veteran and advocate Timothy Pena moved to NYC in July 2022 to collaborate on a documentary on veteran suicide prevention. His experiences as a homeless veteran in NYC inform his advocacy work, including his articles on transitioning from homelessness, testimony before the NYS Department of Veterans Affairs, and his role in the NYC Veterans Task Force. His journey highlights the need for urgent reforms in how veterans are supported by the city’s shelter system.