UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Less than two weeks after a Lenox Hill condo board filed a lawsuit challenging a new 200-bed women’s shelter coming to the neighborhood, another group of Upper East Siders is heading to court.
Lawyers representing a separate neighborhood group known as the East Side Accountability Alliance told Patch during a Wednesday evening press conference outside of a community board meeting that they are filing a motion on Thursday to strengthen the existing legal battle against the women’s shelter.
The eight-story women’s shelter will be located at 1114 First Ave. on East 61st Street and was originally slated for an April opening before the court issued a temporary restraining order.
The shelter is planning to house up to 200 women, most of whom are expected to be employed, and provide on-site case management and meals along with 24/7 security. It is also planning to operate as a drug- and alcohol-free, general population facility with additional restrictions due to its proximity to a school, city officials said.
Todd Stein, center, describes shelter plan as “inhumane.” (Miranda Levingston/Patch)
The new legal motion from the East Side Accountability Alliance will argue that a more thorough environmental impact study needs to be done before the shelter can open, Goetz Platzer attorney Howard Rubin told Patch.
The active lawsuit was filed by the condo board of Bridge Tower Place, located at 401 East 60th St., on March 6. As it stands now, the homeless shelter is under a temporary restraining order issued by the Supreme Court of the State of New York while the court reviews both sides.
The temporary restraining order will be lifted when the court makes a decision, as early as March 26, following a review of both arguments.
According to Rubin, the neighborhood group supports shelters, but believes the neighborhood is being asked to take on more than its share under New York City’s Fair Share laws.
Rubin said there are two shelters in the neighborhood — the Bentley Hotel shelter and the East 91st Street shelter — and argued that the city failed to sufficiently examine cumulative impacts before approving another facility.
“We already have two shelters in the community that exist to help people with housing problems, so we think that should have been considered when they decided to open this shelter,” Rubin said.
Part of the East Side Accountability Alliance’s primary argument is that the proposed 200-bed shelter is too tightly packed, with up to 14 beds per room.
“The photos that were shared were inhumane,” Todd Stein, a community board member speaking as an individual, said, regarding the shelter’s dorm-style bedrooms shared at a Feb. 9 meeting.
A screenshot from the Feb. 9 meeting.
“Many unhoused people avoid shelters because they’ve experienced violence, theft and trauma inside these locations,” Stein said. “Studies show that when someone is offering a safer, more dignified action, like non-congregate shelters, they are more likely to come inside, they are more likely to stay, and ultimately transition into permanent housing. That’s the solution that we should be building right now, right here.”
By filing the motion, the group hopes to pause the shelter’s opening long enough to either conduct a more thorough environmental study for the 200-bed facility or fully redesign the shelter to reduce the overall number of beds, East Side Accountability Alliance board member Shelby Semel told Patch.
“This is not about opposing shelters. It’s about ensuring that we are truly capable of serving these women in need, while also maintaining safety and confidence for the surrounding community,” Semel said. “Because if this moves forward as is, it sets a precedent — not just for this district, but for the entire city — about what kind of conditions we are willing to accept for our less fortunate neighbors.”
A spokesperson from the Department of Homeless Services previously told Patch that the agency is not going to comment on pending legal action, but said that the department had followed all of the standard procedures.
“This upcoming transitional housing facility will bring critical capacity and dedicated, on-site services to a council district that currently contains a very limited shelter footprint,” the spokesperson said at the time. “As such, we look forward to working collaboratively with our experienced not-for-profit provider, Housing Services of New York, and this Upper East Side community to support our vulnerable neighbors as they work to get back on their feet and transition to permanent housing.”
For questions, email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.