As first reported by amNewYork, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Sabrina Kraus extended a temporary restraining order that blocks the city from relocating to the East Village facilities while legal challenges continue.
The lawsuit, filed by neighborhood coalition V.O.I.C.E. (Village Organization for the Integrity of Community Engagement), argues that the city rushed the approval process and improperly used emergency powers to move the intake center from Bellevue to the Project Renewal building between the Bowery and Second Avenue. (Public records list the V.O.I.C.E. members as Trisha Goff, Caleb Berger, David Bonnouvrier, Niki Donohue, Diane Nye, Michael Rayden and John Ruha.)
According to court filings, the city has since proposed scaling back the planned capacity from roughly 175 beds to 117, while adding security measures and indoor processing.
Josh Goldfein, a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society, told amNewYork that he didn't see anything new in V.O.I.C.E.'s arguments, calling them similar to other efforts to block shelters, which he said are often rooted in racist assumptions.
"I've been in this business a very long time," Goldfein told the outlet. "I've seen a lot of cases like this. They are all the same. They raise all the same issues. There is no merit to any of these issues. The petition will eventually be dismissed and the [intake center] will open."
Housing advocates, including the Legal Aid Society and Coalition for the Homeless, have defended the site's use at 8 E. Third St. as a shelter while also raising accessibility concerns about the accelerated timeline.
The two groups released this statement after the V.O.I.C.E. lawsuit was filed last month.
Project Renewal was founded in 1967, and the organization has used the spaces at 8 E. Third St. and 333 Bowery for decades.
