City to Relocate ‘Front Door’ of the Men’s Shelter System, And What Else Happened This Week in Housing

For decades, the 30th Street Shelter near Bellevue Hospital has been the main entry point for men and adult families entering the city’s homeless shelters. Officials will close it this spring, and advocates worry the change will sow “confusion and additional hardship” for people in need.

A “front door” to the city’s shelter system is moving this spring.

The Mamdani administration announced Thursday that it will shutter the 30th Street Shelter in East Midtown, citing deteriorating conditions at the nearly 100-year-old building—which for decades has served as the main entry point to the city’s homeless shelter system for men and adult families.

Intake for those groups will move May 1 to two locations in the East Village (8 East 3rd St. and 333 Bowery, respectively), while 250 people housed at the site will be relocated to other shelters by the middle of March, officials said. Gothamist first reported the news.

“My administration is focused on ensuring every New Yorker experiencing homelessness not only has access to shelter, but to spaces that are safe, humane and truly livable,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement announcing the plan.

It’s not the first time the city has tried to shutter the facility, which the Mamdani administration described as “in a severe state of disrepair.” In 2008, officials sought to move the intake center to the Bedford-Atlantic Armory in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, as City Limits reported at the time. The 30th Street site “is a horrible building for just about anything” and in need of a gut renovation, one shelter provider told us roughly 18 years ago.

But that move faced public backlash—both from leaders in Crown Heights and from homeless advocates who pointed to the importance of the current site’s Midtown location and proximity to Bellevue Hospital. The latest plan sparked similar concerns from advocates this week, who say the facility is well-known as the first stop for those seeking a place to stay.

“Any disruption to this critical front door to shelter—especially on short notice—risks creating confusion and additional hardship for people who are already experiencing homelessness,” The Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless said in a statement Wednesday.

“If intake is shifted or reconfigured, it will take time for people to learn new procedures and locations,” the groups added. “Abrupt changes could leave people sleeping outside longer or deter individuals and families from seeking help.”

The mayor says the city will mitigate these disruptions with a “large-scale communications campaign” to spread the word about the move, and that the Department of Homeless Services will “maintain a small presence” at the 30th Street location for a year, to redirect people who show up after it closes.

Here’s what else happened in housing this week—

ICYMI, from City Limits:

• “The most important proactive thing that I did was really cement the agency’s identity as a housing agency,” Social Services Commissioner Molly Wasow Park, who leaves her role this week after three years leading the agency, told City Limits in an exit interview. “Previously, DSS did homeless services and benefits, and now one of the top of the most critical benefits that the agency administers, really embedded in everything it does, is affordable housing.”
• There are now more than 6,000 vacant apartments at NYCHA, and a Department of Investigation report says the empty units are creating safety risks for other tenants, including opportunities for squatters to move in.
• SNAP recipients in New York City must meet new federal work requirements to keep their benefits, starting this month. Here’s what you need to know.

ICYMI, from other local newsrooms:

• New York Times Magazine takes a closer look at the debate over Mayor Mamdani’s pledged rent freeze, and what it could mean for both low-income tenants and owners of struggling rent regulated buildings.
• For some homeless families with children, unaffordable child care is among the reasons they entered sheltered—but it’s also making it hard for them to find work and leave the system, The City reports.
• The city needs volunteers for its annual street homeless count, which was postponed this year because of the recent cold spell, according to Gothamist.
• Mayor Mamdani wants to reform the city’s property tax system. He might find lessons in former Mayor Eric Adams’ previously unsuccessful attempt to do so, New York Focus reports.
• Mamdani wants Donald Trump to help New York City build 12,000 new homes over Sunnyside Yards. Decades ago, the now-president dreamt of building a football stadium at the vast Queens rail yard, according to NY1.

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