wrote about the dire situation<\/a> \u2014 which would have left homeless clients of the facility with nowhere to go \u2014 Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Lynn R. Kotler issued a stay until Aug. 11.<\/p>\nThe ruling, filed Thursday, prohibits the city from shuttering the facility, and orders the Department of Homeless Services and the Department of Social Services to keep funding Mainchance\u2019s operations after June 30 \u2014 the day it was slated to shut down.<\/p>\n
Mainchance, in Midtown East, just got a two-month stay. Michael Nigro for NY Post<\/p>\n
The facility, which does not have beds, was looking at a June 30th closure until a judge weighed in. Michael Nigro for NY Post<\/p>\n
Mainchance, located at 120 E. 32nd St., alleged in a Manhattan Supreme Court petition that the city sent a letter, in part, complaining that Mainchance violated its contract by turning clients away \u2014 and then days later informed the facility that it would be closing June 30.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur review found that Mainchance failed to meet [Department of Homeless Services] contract requirements and restricted access to essential services, including restroom access and food outside of scheduled meal times,\u201d a City Hall spokesperson previously told The Post in a statement. She declined to comment on the stay.<\/p>\n
Mainchance, its not-for-profit operator Grand Central Neighborhood Social Services and one of its clients claimed in their recent petition the infractions are \u201cnot a reasonable basis for terminating the Mainchance contract, especially given the absence of any plans by DHS to otherwise provide services for homeless people in this neighborhood being displaced by Mainchance\u2019s closure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fritz Paul, who spoke to The Post last week regarding the then-impending closure, said he wasn\u2019t sure where he\u2019d end up if it ultimately shuttered. Michael Nigro for NY Post<\/p>\n
An effort by the city to shutter Mainchance initially erupted in 2024 over allegations of \u201cunderperforming\u201d during then-Mayor Eric Adams\u2019 tenure, but the same judge, Kotler, ruled the city could not terminate the contract.<\/p>\n
Marc Gross, attorney for Mainchance, said at the latest court appearance that he wondered if this case was a \u201ccontinuation of the misconduct that started two years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were no communications over the two years of any, quote, \u2018violations\u2019 that we were performing or not,\u201d said Gross.<\/p>\n
Paul has spent months sleeping in a chair at Mainchance. Michael Nigro for NY Post<\/p>\n
Mainchance said it didn\u2019t get a chance to contest the claims or rectify the issues, per court documents.\u00a0Moreover, Crain denied the city\u2019s allegations of Mainchance not providing those services to clients. If there were refusals, said Gross during last week\u2019s appearance, they happened when the center was full during the cold spells of winter.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody is operating at capacity now. So, I think it\u2019s an illusion that people can actually be moved out,\u201d Gross said.<\/p>\n
However, in the appearance, Elissa Lee with the New York City Law Department, who represented the city, said alleged contractual violations at Mainchance weren\u2019t actually the issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat this case is about is really about DHS\u2019 decision to allow its contract with petitioner, Grand Central Neighborhood Social Services, to expire on its terms on June 30, 2026,\u201d she said. The decision to let Mainchance\u2019s contract expire, Lee said, \u201cwas a financial decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mainchance operates with \u201can annual budget of $2.8 million,\u201d per Gross.<\/p>\n
Lee said, \u201cthere are no funds appropriated to renew the contract.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last week, signs indicated where else clients could head. Lauren Schram for NY Post<\/p>\n
Last week, a sign posted at the entry referred clients to drop-in centers in other Midtown-adjacent neighborhoods, should Mainchance have closed on the 30th.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just got a phone call from the city today saying \u2018Take down the signs,’\u201d Crain told The Post on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the experience and the expertise to join the fight to help homelessness, so we continue to look forward to working with [the Department of Homeless Services],\u201d Crain said. He added that clients can still access the facility, which \u2014 due to not being a shelter \u2014 doesn\u2019t have beds.<\/p>\n
The building itself remains listed for sale, asking $8 million. Michael Nigro for NY Post<\/p>\n
Fritz Paul, 29, previously told The Post he has slept in a chair at Mainchance for about four months as he awaited a housing voucher and the start of a new job at chicken finger chain Raising Cane\u2019s. He wasn\u2019t sure where he would go if the voucher didn\u2019t materialize in time.<\/p>\n
The facility, around for 35 years and at its current home since 2005, enrolled 5,800 homeless individuals as \u201cclients\u201d for housing placement services during the first 10 months of this fiscal year, according to court documents, and a total of more than 20,000 customers \u2014 some who were repeats \u2014 slept overnight in its 72 chairs. <\/p>\n
As the situation plays out Mainchance\u2019s building \u2014 a three-story structure sandwiched between the luxury Marmara Hotel and Korean Cultural Center New York \u2014 asks $8 million for sale, according to an\u00a0Avison Young listing<\/a>. Mainchance occupies the nearly 10,000-square-foot structure on a triple-net lease.<\/p>\nFor now, Crain said he hopes communication with the city can improve.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s please just talk,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mainchance just got another chance. The homeless drop-in center in Midtown East faced closure at the end of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9467,68,9468,2000,75,2346,9,56,63,65,64,1491],"class_list":["post-260443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-department-of-homeless-services","tag-exclusive","tag-homeless-shelters","tag-homelessness","tag-manhattan","tag-midtown-east","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-real-estate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}