Mamdani to Close Men’s Shelter in Kips Bay, City’s Largest

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced that the city will close its largest men’s homeless shelter, on E. 30th St., by the end of next month—citing dangerous conditions for shelter residents. The residents are currently receiving assistance to move elsewhere, the city says.

“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. We cannot accept a system that treats people without dignity or stability,” the mayor said in a statement.

“As we move forward, our city will double down on protecting the safety, continuity and quality of services,” he added.

City Hall believes that the shelter is in a “severe state of disrepair,” although they note that there is no “immediate” source of danger. They describe its closure as a proactive step taken after consulting with safety and engineering experts.

The city has promised that the 250 residents currently living at the facility, otherwise known as the Bellevue shelter, will be able to access services elsewhere.

The building also serves as the intake point for all single adult men and adult families, those without children, who are seeking an entry point into the city’s shelter system.

In fact, officials with the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) say that they are already in the process of helping relocate residents to other facilities, and hope to complete the process by the middle of this month. The shelter intake process for adult men will now be moved to 8 E. 3rd St., while adult families will check in at 333 Bowery.

The shuttering of the facility and its relocation of services will come with a communications campaign targeting local communities, DHS says, and DHS employees will be stationed at the site for a year after its closure to inform any stray arrivals of the change in the status quo.

The impressive—albeit clearly crumbling—E. 30th St. building dates to 1931, and can house up to 850 people. It served as Bellevue’s psychiatric ward until the 1980s, when it was converted into a shelter; it sits roughly a block away from the hospital that still gives it its moniker.

Straus News visited the shelter on March 6, in order to gauge the reaction of residents to its impending closure. More than a few seemed relieved.

Asked his opinion on the closure, one man simply said: “Thank god!”

Another man, Ravi, said he was leaving in two days anyway. His take was similar, noting that he didn’t “even care” that the facility was shuttering.

Andrew Hill, who was with his friend Kevin, was even more blunt. “The building is old, the staff is no good, they treat us like we’re ‘less than’,” he said.

“The food is horrible,” Hill added. Kevin and Hill had both been made aware of the shift in services, they noted.

Yet one resident, who didn’t give his name, had a different take. After expressing evident surprise that the facility was closing, he noted that his month-long stay there had been pleasant.

“They have good conditions, they’re clean, they provide good security,” he said. “I hope they have somewhere else for us to go—and I hope it’s clean.”