The city, which has been working on a shelter facility at 105 Washington at Rector for at least three years, will open it late this summer or early fall, the Department of Social Services said.

The Safe Haven shelter will house 84 people currently experiencing unsheltered homelessness, in other words, folks coming off the street or the subways; inside they will receive both case management services and health care. Safe Havens, called low-barrier programs since there are very few requirements for living there, target people who are resistant to traditional shelters.

The staff will work closely with the clients to build trust, stabilize their lives, and encourage further transition into permanent housing. The spaces are designed a bit differently, with smaller physical settings and more hands-on and intimate case management.

One thing I wanted to clarify: DSS-DHS policy does not require that shelter residents leave the premises during the day. Residents are only required to vacate their rooms for a short period of time during the day to allow for regular cleaning and maintenance; they can remain in the recreational spaces/cafeteria/common spaces of the building.

This will be the first Safe Haven shelter in CB1, which until recently had no homeless shelters. The city is also developing a long-term shelter for 170 single men at 41-43 Beekman, a five-story residential building between William and Gold; the Radisson hotel at 52 William is also a sanctuary site for migrant families with children under 18.

The shelter will be run by the Center for Urban Community Services, which was founded in the late 1970s as a way to engage Columbia University students with the Morningside Heights neighborhood. They currently run six transitional shelters in the city, as well as 23 buildings that are permanent supportive housing for the formerly homeless, with case managers and health care providers.

The city estimates that more than 4000 homeless adults currently live on the streets or in other public places, though experts on homelessness suggest that this is underestimated and tough to measure. The Coalition for the Homeless says that studies show that the large majority of unsheltered homeless New Yorkers are people living with mental illness or other severe health problems. Many of these folks resist placement into traditional shelters, so Safe Havens are designed to be their first step toward permanent housing. Last year the city placed more than 1,000 New Yorkers residing in low-barrier programs in permanent housing.