A group of East Village residents and the Village Organization for the Integrity of Community Engagement (VOICE) filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court to block the city from converting a building at 8 East 3rd Street into a citywide homeless intake center for adult men. The plaintiffs argue the administration bypassed required environmental reviews and community input by invoking a 2022 emergency declaration tied to the asylum-seeker crisis. A state judge granted a temporary restraining order on Wednesday, freezing the plan, with both sides set to return to court on May 7.
The site currently functions as a 175-bed transitional housing facility run by Project Renewal. The lawsuit claims the surrounding area already bears a disproportionate share of the city’s social services. VOICE coalition member Caleb Berger told NY1, "We are not against living with shelters. We all live in the East Village, they are part of the social fabric. What they are proposing is to move the entire intake operation, essentially the front door of the New York City, five-borough shelter system, to our narrow residential block."
Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office framed the project as a necessary replacement for the deteriorating Bellevue Shelter on 30th Street, which housed roughly 250 people. The city aimed to vacate that site and open the East 3rd Street location by May 1. The lawsuit argues the city fast-tracked the process without proper environmental and legal safeguards.
The lawsuit has drawn attention from conservative figures, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who posted on X, "Oops." Former New York attorney general candidate Michael Henry wrote on social media, "No one is more ‘not in my backyard’ than white progressives. This community voted for Mamdani in a landslide but don’t want to live with the consequences." Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) also commented, "Not shocked."
Election District 45, which includes East Village, voted for Mamdani in a 70.1% victory over independent candidate Andrew Cuomo, who garnered 26.0% of the vote.