Residents report being pressured to leave during inspections

The Sunset Post has acquired documents that show that the staff of the homeless shelter on 38th Street, referred to internally as the Comfort Inn (because it occupies the space of what used to be a Comfort Inn Hotel), are both forcing and coercing residents of the shelter to leave the shelter on the day of a legally mandated inspection performed by the New York City Department of Social Services/Department of Homeless Services. The inspection is commonly referred to as a Callahan inspection.

This has the effect of preventing residents from being able to speak to the DHS or the Coalition for the Homeless, which monitors these inspections, about the conditions of the shelter or their treatment by the shelter’s staff.

Callahan inspections

In 1981, a consent decree titled Callahan v. Carey was issued, the landmark case that created the right to shelter for homeless men in New York City. The case, a class action lawsuit, was led by Robert Callahan, a homeless man who ultimately died while sleeping on the streets before the decree was put into effect.

Although the main purpose of the decree was to ensure all homeless men had a bed to sleep each night, the decree also listed other standards that must be met for shelters. Among the standards, beds must be “a minimum of 30 inches in width, substantially constructed, in good repair and equipped with clean springs,” “there shall be a minimum of one toilet and one lavatory for each six residents and a minimum of one tub or shower for each ten residents,” and “heat shall be maintained in accordance with New York City guidelines for rental residences.”

In 1982, Eldredge v. Koch extended the right to shelter to women as well.

Once a year, each shelter in the system must be inspected to ensure these standards are being kept. The inspections are performed by the DHS and monitored by a representative from the Coalition for the Homeless. An integral part of these inspections are interviews with the residents (referred to as clients by the DHS and its affiliates).

Timeline of events

More than a month before the inspection was to be performed (set for Feb. 23), flyers began appearing at the 38th Street shelter, by the elevators on each floor, mandating that “The building will be closed to all clients, EXCEPT frail medical clients due to our annual Callahan Inspection.”

A flyer shelter residents say was posted to pressure them to leave during the Callahan inspection, limiting contact with inspectors.

The Post passed along this flyer to the DSS via email to seek comment. A DSS spokesperson replied, stating “DSS policy does not permit providers to compel clients to leave the facility, and we have addressed this oversite [sic] with the provider.”

The Post pressed for further details on what ‘addressed’ meant, to which we received no response.

Five days later, the Post acquired a second document, an additional flyer that was posted next to copies of the first flyer, which had not been removed.

This second flyer advertises a “Day Trip Invitation” on the day of the inspection to either the Grand Army Plaza Library or Alpine Movie Theater.

The Post passed this second flyer to the DSS and asked why the first flyers were still hanging.

In response, a spokesperson replied, “Regarding the flyer directing clients to leave the facility, we appreciate you letting us know that they are still up. We have reiterated agency policies to program staff and will continue to follow-up to ensure that no directives are being issued which are contrary to DHS policy. I also wanted to share more about the day trip. Shelter programs will sometimes schedule an alternative event during Callahan inspections. This is in no way meant to force clients off site or keep them from sharing honest testimony, it simply allows them to avoid any inconvenience the inspection may cause. These trips/events are strictly voluntary — clients are more than welcome to remain in the facility during the inspection, but Callahan Inspections are quite comprehensive — all bathrooms, showers, beds, etc. are inspected — and this may be disruptive/uncomfortable for clients, so alternative arrangements are sometimes made by the program. A smaller client footprint at the site can also make these inspections more efficient and less disruptive, but to reiterate, any trip/event is totally voluntary, and clients may absolutely remain on-site.”

This response, which touches on a variety of issues concerning Callahan inspections, runs contrary to the view of the Coalition for the Homeless. Jamie Powlovich, Senior Manager of the Systems Access & Shelter Compliance Team for the Coalition, shared that empty shelters during Callahan inspections is a recurring problem.

“When we do find empty shelters during inspections, we remind the shelters and the DSS that clients should be there during the inspections so we can hear about their experiences first-hand. The only kind of vacating we ever ask for is residents of specific dorms to leave the sleeping area so the room and furniture can be measured.”

Regarding the second flyer posted, the one advertising the day trip, Ms. Powlovich said, “That’s them trying to be clever. Because there’s also a requirement for 10 hours of recreation a week.”

On the evening following the DSS spokesperson’s statement that they “reiterated agency policies to program staff,” the flyers were removed, according to Ron Davidson, a resident of the shelter.

A decree that needs updating and codifying

The Callahan Decree is 45 years old. It needs updating, according to Ms. Powlovich, a process the Coalition is engaged in.

“For example, the decree specifies that clients should have access to pay phones. There are no more pay phones. So now we try to make sure they have access to some kind of phone.”

The larger issue with the decree is how compliance is measured. There is no formal document in place that outlines how a shelter stays in compliance with the Callahan Decree, nor is there a guideline for how inspections should be uniformly run.

This is, in part, why shelters such as the 38th Street shelter so openly demand their clients to exit the building on the days of the inspections. Nowhere in the decree is there any indication that this is not allowed, because the decree does not outline how inspections should be conducted.

In the absence of such a document, all that is left is “DSS policy” which was never concretely provided for review to the Post.

Ms. Powlovich shared that the Coalition is in contact with city officials to create official, written, Callahan policy, though no timeline was available.

Equally important, Ms. Powlovich shared, is what happens when a shelter is found in violation of the decree. The only recourse the Coalition has is to report the violations to the DHS, which in some cases is the same entity running the individual shelters and performing the inspections. No punishments are imposed, whether the shelter is DHS or contractor operated. All the Coalition and clients can hope for is for issues to be directly addressed, which sometimes happens and sometimes doesn’t. For the shelters that do not make changes, the Coalition does take them to court, where success is also variable.

Staff abuse as violation

The Post’s investigation into the 38th Street shelter began when Ronald Davidson, a resident there, shared his experience of being denied accommodations for his disability, aphasia, a condition which impairs one’s ability to communicate. In Mr. Davidson’s case, his trouble is with verbal communication. His disability stems from head trauma he sustained in 1979 after surviving a three-story fall.

In December 2025, the Post published a piece detailing some of his accusations, as well as the accusations of other residents of the shelter.

Although the residents shared complaints of terrible food and inadequate sleeping conditions, most complaints centered around treatment by shelter staff. In the Post’s previous piece, one resident reported having his walker seized by a staff member and flung at another staff member.

Over the course of a series of conversations with Mr. Davidson, a clearer picture of the verbal, emotional, and sexual abuse he has endured has emerged.

Mr. Davidson shared story after story of conflicts with staff at four different shelters, having been moved around because of what he believes is retaliation for exerting his rights. Mostly, he claims to be in constant conflict with staff regarding accommodations for his aphasia, which interrupts his ability to communicate verbally. Thus, he uses two $150 laptops he purchased himself to write down his thoughts in a linear fashion.

At the second shelter he was placed at after becoming homeless in 2024 (following eviction from his longtime home on Roosevelt Island), he requested a table and chair for his room, which he would use for his laptops. He was told he needed to purchase those items himself. After acquiring a table and chair from a nearby elementary school, according to him by asking directly and being given them for free, he was accused by shelter staff of stealing the items. Soon after, he was moved to another shelter.

At this third shelter, he was told he was not allowed to bring furniture. He had his table and chair removed from him. He informed the shelter that this was a violation of his rights as a disabled person, and moreover a violation of the Butler settlement (2017), which outlines that shelters must accommodate disabled residents. Mr. Davidson filed a lawsuit against this shelter. He was then moved to the shelter on 38th Street. He believes this was in direct retaliation for informing the shelter he had filed the suit.

Mr. Davidson refers to the 38th Street shelter as a “gulag,” not only for its material conditions but for his treatment by staff. A few months ago, he claims, he was taking a shower, and a staff member came into the room and berated him while he was nude. He said he told the staff member that she could not be in there while he was bathing and in response, she replied that “she was allowed to be wherever she wanted at any time.”

More recently, Mr. Davidson says that while he was sleeping, staff members came into his room and removed multiple personal items of his, including tea bags, honey, and his prescribed medication.

When he awoke, he was alarmed that they had entered his room while he was sleeping, unannounced, and stole from him. Most of all, he feared his medication was tossed, which included an inhaler for asthma.

He was able to get his medication back from a shelter employee who he referred to as “strategically cruel” to him, meaning he believes this employee fits into the “abusive culture” of the shelter by verbally abusing him, just as they verbally abuse all residents, but is kind and helpful to him when they are not being watched.

He was not returned the remainder of his items. He was told by a different staff member that they had no knowledge of anyone going into his room.

Mr. Davidson is the individual who passed the Post the flyers posted on the walls. Although he lives in constant fear of abuse and retaliation, he persists in sharing information with the press because he hopes for change.

He noted that on Tuesday, Jan. 13, Rosy Gelin, Assistant Commissioner for the DHS, made a visit to the shelter. His interactions with her were benign, he claims, if not condescending (asking if the new visual fire alarms were good for him despite deafness not being a disability of his). The reason he brought this up in conversation was because the first flyers, those demanding all clients leave on the day of the inspection, were hanging during her visit and apparently warranted no comment from her, despite this being “against DSS policy.”

Mr. Davidson emphasized that if Acacia were to have their way, no residents would be present during the inspection to share their testimony of abuse at the hands of staff.

Ms. Gelin did not respond to a request for comment, nor did a DSS representative address this topic when asked about it.

No shelter employees responded to repeated requests for comment. This is why, though Mr. Davidson’s testimony is compelling, it is at the time of publication, uncorroborated.

Although the Coalition for the Homeless is focused on addressing material conditions at shelters, such as food, which Ms. Powlovich referred to as “horrific,” they also investigate complaints about staff treatment.

She shared that the “highest level of complaints is about staff treatment,” but that these are simultaneously the hardest to address. Staff members deny wrongdoing and, she suspects, bribe or intimidate clients into not following up on their complaints. When the Coalition shows up to ask about staff treatment complaints to clients, “the complaints all of a sudden become vague or they forgot about the details.”

Regarding staff treatment, a DSS spokesperson shared the following statement:

“At every DHS shelter site, the health and safety of our clients is paramount. We take reports of misconduct, or discrimination seriously, and work closely with our providers to address concerns on a case-by-case basis. All DHS-contracted provider staff receive training to ensure that they are providing trauma-informed and client-centered services that prioritize their wellbeing and help them address barriers to independence. DHS also has robust reasonable accommodations processes in place to ensure clients with disabilities or medical needs receive the appropriate accommodations to meaningfully access shelter and engage in services. For individuals who may have other needs, aside from reasonable accommodations, we will work with clients to ensure they are able to receive appropriate supports and access services as needed.”

Contractors behaving with impunity

“When you are using public funding to meet a public need, there need to be expectations. And what happens when you don’t meet those expectations?” asked Ms. Powlovich.

As previously reported, executives for Acacia Network, the shelter that runs the 38th Street shelter, receive combined millions of dollars in salary, largely derived from contracts with city agencies, all while their clients are allegedly abused and deprived of their rights.

Acacia is not alone in this. In the Department of Investigation’s 2024 report on city-funded nonprofits operating homeless shelters, many shelter operators were found to be self-dealing with public funds.

Ms. Powlovich is tentatively optimistic for changes “with the swearing in of the new administration,” referring to the mayoral administration of Zohran Mamdani, although no major changes have been made yet.

Community Board 7 is supposed to be addressing the issue of disabled residents of shelters being discriminated against. The office of their retiring district manager, Jeremy Laufer, had a meeting in December with a panel of city agencies, including DSS, but the topic was pushed to February’s meeting.