The move comes after a delay caused by a legal challenge from neighborhood residents. Last month, State Supreme Court Justice Sabrina Kraus ruled that the city had a rational basis for relocating the intake operation from the deteriorating Bellevue facility to the Project Renewal building on Third Street between Second Avenue and the Bowery, allowing the plan to move forward.
According to DSS, the Bellevue intake center — which opened in 1931 — is in severe disrepair. The city previously stated relocating intake operations is part of a broader effort to modernize the shelter system and has already moved hundreds of assessment beds from the site to other locations.
DSS said a small staff presence will remain at the 30th Street location for at least a year to direct anyone who arrives there to the new intake center. Transportation between the two locations will also be available.
Separately, intake for adult families (families without minor children) will relocate to 333 Bowery between Second and Third Streets on Aug. 1.
The relocation has drawn sustained opposition from neighborhood residents and a few elected officials, who have argued that converting the site into a citywide intake center will have a greater impact on the neighborhood than the substance-use treatment and shelter services that Project Renewal has operated there for decades.
City officials have maintained the move is necessary because of the deteriorating conditions at Bellevue.
Previously on EV Grieve:
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