A Manhattan judge said on Wednesday that the city cannot open its East Village homeless men’s intake center on its planned May 1 date after residents filed a lawsuit Monday alleging the plan was rushed forward without enough public review.
Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Sabrina Kraus ruled that the city must hold off opening the intake facility until at least May 7, the date she set to hear oral arguments on whether Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s executive order to convert the existing shelter facility into an intake center was not a violation of his authority.
Kraus said those arguments will give her the opportunity to determine whether the residents’ allegations that the city acted outside of its authority and neglected to carry out the proper environmental, land use and public reviews are valid. From there, she will make a more permanent ruling on when – or whether – the intake facility is allowed to open.
A spokesperson for Mamdani told amNewYork Law it looked forward to addressing the immediate need to relocate shelter intake with the Court. The administration has said its plans to open the intake center in the East Village as part of its plan to close the longstanding Bellevue men’s intake shelter on East 30th Street over safety concerns there. The spokesperson said the city will continue to operate intake out of Bellevue until it is able to open the East Village facility.
Lawyers told amNewYork Law that Kraus’s decision to issue this order and adjourn the case until May 7 struck them as “surprising,” as judges typically don’t issue restraining orders like this unless they absolutely have to. Here, since the intake facility was not set to open until May 1, lawyers said Kraus could have set a date for oral arguments next week and avoided issuing the order.
Trisha Goff, a member of the East Village group V.O.I.C.E., suing the city over the intake facility, said she appreciated the judge’s fast action on the matter, but said this was only the start.
“Now there’s time for due process, to listen to the community, and to find a far better solution to this challenging problem,” Goff said in a statement.
Beyond arguing Mamdani administration’s plans to open the intake shelter were rushed and outside of his authority, V.O.I.C.E. argued that an intake facility in the area would be a safety concern and that the area is “already shouldering more than its fair share” of social housing.
The city has used the 8 East 3rd St. building for various other shelter operations for years. This proposal would also provide intake services for adult men seeking shelter.
The Legal Aid Society, along with other advocacy groups, has been critical of the Mamdani administration’s decision to open the East Village intake shelter, citing concerns over the building’s accessibility and the city’s accelerated opening timeline. However, it said, V.O.I.C.E.’s opposition seemed to “lack a good-faith basis” and appeared to be a case of simply not wanting a homeless intake center in their neighborhood.
“The site at 8 East 3rd St. has long served as a shelter and previously functioned as a men’s intake center, making its current use consistent with its history,” Legal Aid said in a statement. “The City has committed to making the site fully accessible, and we are actively negotiating the specific steps it will take to operate as an intake facility and to ensure the site is accessible to all single men seeking shelter.”
The organization added that there is an urgent need for a functioning, legally compliant shelter intake facility, but that “the situation” as a whole “highlights the consequences of the City’s failure to create permanent affordable housing for the lowest-income New Yorkers.”
“If adequate, affordable housing were available, tens of thousands of New Yorkers would not have to rely on shelters every night,” Legal Aid said. “New Yorkers experiencing homelessness deserve — and are entitled to — safe, accessible shelter and services, and the City must prioritize long-term housing solutions to reduce homelessness and prevent these challenges from occurring in the first place.”
