Judge Pauses East Village Shelter Plan

A Manhattan judge has temporarily stopped New York City from moving its main men’s homeless intake center to the East Village before a May 7 court hearing. (ny1.com) Justice Sabrina Kraus issued the temporary restraining order on April 22 after East Village residents and business owners sued in Manhattan Supreme Court. The city had planned to open the new intake site on May 1 at 8 East 3rd Street. (amny.com) The intake center now operates at 400-430 East 30th Street near Bellevue Hospital, where single adult men go to apply for temporary shelter. City webpages had already listed 8 East 3rd Street as the men’s intake address beginning May 1. (nyc.gov) Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration announced the move on March 5, saying the Bellevue shelter building, which opened in 1931, was in “severe disrepair.” The mayor’s office said about 250 people were then staying at the site and that intake would remain in Manhattan after the closure. (nyc.gov) This case is about the front door to the city’s shelter system, not just one neighborhood shelter. Fox 5 reported the 30th Street site has served for more than 40 years as the central place where homeless men are assessed and sent to placements, including some people leaving Rikers Island without housing. (fox5ny.com) The lawsuit argues City Hall used an emergency executive order to bypass normal environmental, land-use and public-review steps. Kraus said the May 7 arguments will help determine whether those claims are valid and whether the intake center can open later. (amny.com) Residents in the group V.O.I.C.E., short for Village Organization for the Integrity of Community Engagement, said they learned of the plan late and were not given enough notice. On NY1, plaintiff Caleb Berger said the issue was moving “the entire intake operation” onto a narrow residential block, not opposition to shelters in general. (ny1.com) City Hall says the pause will not change its view that Bellevue must be vacated. Mayor’s spokesperson Sneha Choudhary said the 30th Street conditions have been “unacceptable for years” and that the city will keep operating there for now while it defends the relocation in court. (yahoo.com) Advocates for homeless New Yorkers are split on the lawsuit’s motives but not entirely on the site. The Legal Aid Society and Coalition for the Homeless said some neighborhood opposition amounts to “NIMBYism,” while also raising separate concerns about accessibility and the rushed opening at 8 East 3rd Street. (yahoo.com) For now, the city’s posted May 1 switch is on hold, Bellevue remains the intake address, and the next deadline is May 7 in Manhattan Supreme Court. (nyc.gov)