Valerie Settles and other Local 1219 members find shelter for thousands of New Yorkers each year.

By JANE LaTOUR

At 7:30 a.m. Nov. 19, her phone sent Valerie Settles racing to a six-alarm fire at 92 Morningside Drive in Harlem. The blaze displaced over 200 adults and 65 children from the century-old building that many families had called home for generations. Ms. Settles worked until 10 p.m. that day — and throughout the week — helping the families to find shelter.

Ms. Settles works on a Dept. of Housing Pre-servation and Development team that finds housing for New Yorkers who are made homeless by fires and other emergencies.

They are not in it for the publicity. As a first responder, the Red Cross always gets credit in disaster news. But the HPD team is always there — working to determine the needs of the dispossessed. “People hear our job title, “Real Estate Property Manager,” and they wonder — ‘What is that?’” she explained.

On a more typical day, she manages an HPD residential shelter on West 142nd Street, one of six hotels for homeless adults. Here she meets the needs of a desperate population. Finding housing for the destitute takes determination. “I will fight tooth and nail for you. I will go the whole nine yards with you,” she says. She works with the clients to fill out applications for public housing, submit the forms, inspect apartments, go on interviews, mediate disputes with landlords and whatever else it takes to move people into a home of their own.

After 23 years on the job, Ms. Settles is a walking encyclopedia about the homeless in New York City. She started as a clerk at the Martinique Hotel. “I filed a working out-of-title grievance and that led to my becoming a manager. I guess this was my calling — to help people.” At 5 feet 2 inches, Ms. Settles is compact woman with a close-cropped blonde Afro, gold hoop earrings, and a boundless reservoir of grit and intelligence.

Her greatest satisfaction is seeing people move into their own apartment. Affordable housing tops her wish list. As a prime example, she points to a mother of five who lost her home in the Harlem fire. “She works as a hairdresser. Where is she going to find an affordable apartment in Harlem?”

Ms. Settles is a member of Local 1219. Local President Magda DeJesus is also HPD’s Director of Emergency Housing Services for Manhattan Relocation. As director, the frustrations of supply and demand are her constant concern. “The number of managers has literally been cut in half. But they still have the same workload.” That workload is getting heavier every day.

And she deeply appreciates the special services that members like Valerie Settles provide. “When people are in their darkest moments,’ she says, “we are able to offer them hope.”