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A legal challenge has thrown the future of a planned 200-bed women’s shelter on First Avenue into uncertainty, with a judge issuing a temporary restraining order that prevents the facility from opening while the case plays out in court.
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The lawsuit, filed March 6 in New York Supreme Court, was brought by the condo board of Bridge Tower Place, located at 401 East 60th St. — just a block from the proposed shelter site at 1114 First Avenue, near the corner of East 61st Street.The suit isn’t a straightforward objection to the shelter’s existence. Instead, the condo board is challenging the process the city used to approve it. Filed as an Article 78 proceeding — a legal mechanism used to challenge government agency decisions — the case targets the Department of Homeless Services’ environmental review of the project, arguing it was handled improperly.
Specifically, the condo board alleges that DHS issued what’s known as a “Negative Declaration” — an official finding that a project won’t have a significant environmental impact — without adequately accounting for noise mitigation. The suit further alleges that the city signed a contract with the shelter’s operator, Housing Solutions of New York, before completing the required environmental review, putting the cart before the horse legally. The condo board is asking the court to void both the Negative Declaration and the city’s contract with HSNY.
A New York judge found enough merit in these arguments to grant a temporary restraining order, effectively pausing the shelter’s opening while the litigation proceeds. The shelter had been targeting an April opening.
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The planned facility would house up to 200 single adult women, with roughly 78 percent of residents employed at any given time. It would be classified as a general population shelter — not one serving people with drug addiction or mental illness — and would be operated by Housing Solutions of New York, the same organization that runs the Welcome Center at 419 East 91st Street.The shelter has been in the works since January, when the Department of Homeless Services originally announced plans for a men’s facility at the site before switching to a women’s shelter following community pushback. At a contentious February community board meeting, DHS and HSNY representatives faced pointed questions from neighbors about security, transparency, and the shelter’s impact on the surrounding area.
East Side Feed will continue to follow this story as it develops.
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