As homelessness spikes in New York City, Eric Adams tries to close down a homeless shelter

New Yorc City-Sandwiched between a five-star hotel and a Korean cultural center in midtown Manhattan is the Mainchance drop-in center, a four-story building with a black-and-white tiled exterior and a bright orange awning emblazoned with “COMMUNITY FOR ALL.” printed in block letters.

“Community for All” may sound like a catchphrase to passersby, but it’s a mantra at Mainchance, which has been operating since 1989 as part of the nonprofit network Grand Central Neighborhood Social Service Corporation (GCNSSC).

Brady Crain, managing director of Mainchance, said that calling it a “drop-in” is a bit of a misnomer: “No one is in the habit of popping in and out.” Many of Mainchance’s patrons are “regulars” who frequent the shelter for daily services and the monthly food pantry.

Crain’s estimates the center serves more than 300 people a day. In addition to hosting a monthly food pantry, Mainchance provides showers, bus passes, banking services, and medical care and referrals. It also helps connect clients to detox centers and churches with available beds. The center itself does not have beds, although there is a “resource room” on the second floor where people can rest.

But New York City, under Mayor Eric Adams, wants to terminate the Department of Homelessness’ contract with Mainchance, closing the center. Adams on page 25 2025 According to the proposed fiscal budget, the city calls Mainchance “underperforming” and says its closure will cost approx. 3.7 million dollars in the next two years.

But on June 28, just two days before the city notified Mainchance that it wanted to close the center, the Department of Homelessness Mainchance is rated “very good” based on an on-site inspection.

“The city keeps sending us these mixed messages,” GCNSSC board chairman William Kornblum told me. “On the one hand they praise us and offer us a new contract for more work, on the other hand they say we have to close.”

(The Mayor’s Office and the Homeless Services Department did not respond to comments.)

As the number of homeless people in the city continues to grow, Mainchance’s work is becoming more important. In 2022, more than 14 percent of New Yorkers experienced food insecurity, nearly double national average. About 146,000 people you can access the shelters every month City limits. The number of homeless people in New York is at its highest level since then Great depressionand the number of homeless single adults is more than double what it was before just a decade ago. The main reason for the spike in homelessness is the lack of affordability housethe city lost more than 1 million affordable units between 1996 and 2017.

Despite the growing demand, drop-in centers like Mainchance are still few and far between. There are currently only six such sites in New York two in Manhattan.

Crain, who has worked at Mainchance since it moved to 32nd Street in 2005, said the organization is willing to convert the shelter into a “safe haven” — meaning it would provide semi-private or private rooms with beds. means keeping the doors open. According to Crain’s, the city prioritizes putting people to bed, not providing other services.

In February 2024, Mainchance submitted an RFP to convert Mainchance into a night shelter. And the city rejected the idea. The Department of Homeless Services told Mainchance that converting the shelter to a safe haven “will probably take a few years.” But Mainchance’s attorney, Marc Gross, said the city assumed it would take years to convert Mainchance into an overnight shelter, although a contractor estimated it would really only take 90 days. Converting it to a safe shelter is “very easy,” Gross explained: All Mainchance has to do is put beds where chairs are now, install irrigation systems in the sleeping area, and build another shower and more exits.

Gross fought the Department of Homelessness to prevent the shelter’s contract from being terminated. Mainchance submitted a restraining order in June against the city to delay the city’s closure. Gross, a litigation attorney and senior counsel at Pomerantz LLP, serves on Mainchance’s board of directors and litigates the case pro bono.

After the announcement, the preliminary injunction A hearing was held against the Homeless Care Department on July 23 to present the arguments to the judge. Gross said that the contract between the Ministry of Homeless Services and Maintenance cannot be terminated without reason. Mainchance now awaits a sentence from Judge Lynn Kotler. If he accepts the validity of Mainchance’s argument, the case will go to trial. The decision is expected to be made in September.

The fight to keep Mainchance open is about helping the poor and homeless in the community, Kornblum said. “The immediacy of the care we offer and its location in the human ecology of midtown Manhattan is critical,” he said. “If you lose that, you lose something very important to the population we serve.”

At the monthly food pantries, people often stand in line for hours to collect the fruit, freshly cooked meat, and canned fish and vegetables waiting inside. Although the August chamber would have started at 2 p.mThe “lunch rush” began at 1, when the first few people took their seats across the street and waited to be ushered in by Crain and the rest of the Mainchance staff. Once inside, customers are asked to sign in and record a track, which they then wait to hear before heading down to rows of food-lined tables. Employees help customers choose food and load it into their carts, where they are then helped out.

Dorothy Simon, 80, who lives a few blocks from Mainchance, was one of the first to wait for the doors to open. He has used a wheelchair for the past seven years after suffering a spinal cord injury on a construction site. It’s not easy to get around even on sidewalks, she said, so having a reliable place to shop is essential.

If the shelter closes, she told me, “I won’t be able to get certain foods because I can’t afford to buy some of the things you can get here.”

The pantry does not only help those who pick up the food. “This place gives me more than any other place,” said Gary, one of the food drive’s most frequent patrons. “You get meat, here you get protein. I get canned salmon.” Gary, who asked that his last name not be used, is a 74-year-old Vietnam War veteran and former nurse’s aide who uses the food pantry to collect food for his neighbors and himself.

“I only get $4 a month on SNAP. My social security is only $840 a month. And there are five bedridden guys on my floor that I help. And I get them their food. Without it, they starve,” he said.

Kristen Hodge, 44, said she worries about losing the community she’s built at Mainchance. Hodge said her 3-year-old daughter, Liberty, especially enjoys the fresh fruit and interacting with everyone.

“They welcomed me more than anywhere else,” Hodge said. “It’s good conversation, good company, nice people here. They actually get to know you.”

The possibility of closure is difficult for the guests and employees of Mainchance. Crain noted that they are trying to take things one day at a time, but Mainchance is in limbo for now pending the judge’s decision. And if the shelter closes, he said, the city will lose more than a physical space for the city’s homeless: “We’re doing things that can’t be measured. We create connections. We engage with our customers.”