New York City’s hulking homeless shelter in the former Bellevue psychiatric hospital, which for decades has served as the first stop for people seeking placement in the shelter system, will shut down by next month, city officials said on Thursday.
The Mamdani administration said that the 30th Street Shelter in Manhattan was deteriorating and in a “severe state of disrepair,” one of several sites it said it had inherited from the previous administration that had been neglected for years. Its current occupants, all single men, will be moved elsewhere by mid-March, and its intake center will close at the end of April.
“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. “We cannot accept a system that treats people without dignity or stability.”
This announcement comes as the Mamdani administration faces increased scrutiny for its approach to homelessness, after at least 20 people died outside in the cold this winter, some of whom were living on the street.
The 30th Street Shelter, also sometimes called the Bellevue men’s shelter, has been an intake center and shelter for decades and was well known across the city among vulnerable New Yorkers. Dave Giffen, the executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless, said it would be a tremendous undertaking to get the word out about the change, especially so quickly.
“The real concern is this is the place people know, that this is where you go when you need shelter,” Mr. Giffen said. “This is a monumental shift in how people access the shelter system.”
It was not clear what the mayor intends to do with the building. The mayor’s office said the Department of Homeless services was working with City Hall and outside agencies on a long-term redevelopment plan.
The closure of the 30th Street Shelter was first reported by Gothamist.
When the building housing the 30th Street Shelter opened in 1931, it was the Bellevue psychiatric hospital. Inside the large red brick building lies a forbidding and institutional mazelike structure and 850 beds.
Large congregate shelters with open dormitories, like those at 30th Street, can be prone to violence and theft and can be frightening places for people to sleep, vulnerable in rooms filled with more than a dozen strangers.
“It does feel like what it was originally designed to be,” said Kathryn Kliff, a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society. “It is not a welcoming place.”
To replace the 30th Street Center, the city is opening two new intake centers, one for single men on 8 East Third Street and another for families without children at 333 Bowery. Families with children go to a separate intake center in the Bronx.
The Department of Homeless Services will keep a presence at the 30th Street site for at least a year, city officials said, to direct people who come looking for shelter to the new locations. It will also offer transportation to those sites throughout the day.
Mr. Giffen said another concern among advocates is what will happen to the building in the future, and whether it would be lost as a site to help homeless New Yorkers.
“I’m afraid there’s going to be a lot of pushback getting it back there,” he said.
Elizabeth A. Harris covers books and the publishing industry, reporting on industry news and examining the broader cultural impact of books. She is also an author.
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