Overview
- Residents and the group VOICE filed a State Supreme Court lawsuit Monday seeking an emergency order to stop the men's intake center from opening at 8 E. 3rd St.
- The Mamdani administration announced on March 5 that it would close the Bellevue intake site and route single men to East 3rd Street and adult families to 333 Bowery starting May 1.
- The filing says the city skipped required land-use, environmental, and fair-share reviews and gave late notice by using an emergency order to bypass normal process.
- Plaintiffs cite the building’s certificate of occupancy, which caps the basement at 90 people and the first floor at 208, arguing the space cannot safely handle citywide intake.
- An affidavit from former DHS official Robert Mascali notes the city moved intake away from 8 E. 3rd St. in 1984 due to overcrowding and neighborhood strain, while City Hall defends the shift as necessary to replace unsafe conditions at Bellevue.