Manhattan Community Board 10 has lost its fight to keep a group home for four developmentally disabled men out of a luxury Harlem condominium. The state’s Office for People With Developmental Disabilities approved the plan for Community Options to house the four men, aged 17 to 22, inside a unit at 555 Lenox Avenue at West 138th Street, DNAinfo reported.
Original plans for Community Options included taking two $500,000 units inside the building, but the Community Board rejected the plan, claiming that there was already too much special interest housing in the neighborhood. But the board in January said it would consider reversing its objection, referencing a 2008 moratorium on special interest housing that it considered to be vague.
According to Community Options, there were only 17 people living at two other group homes in the same census tract, and according to OPWDD, there are 20 group homes in the ZIP codes that comprise Central Harlem. CB10 said there were between 84 to 96 beds in 12 group homes inside its boundaries. [DNAinfo]