Tuesday, May 21, 2024
Year : 2, Issue : 21
A homeless shelter in Midtown Manhattan with a banner on an awning that reads “Community For All” is set to shut down.
MainChance, a drop-in shelter for single adults, is set to close unless its contract with the city’s Department of Social Services is renewed.
The facility was alerted by the city earlier this month that it would have to close its doors on June 30. The shelter provides a variety of services — including three meals a day, showers, a place to sleep and help to secure permanent housing.
Jermaine Burton knows firsthand the help the center provides.
“I’m just so happy I’m getting a place,” Burton said. He first started going to MainChance in October. Burton is a home health aide, and will soon be able to live in a studio in the Bronx close to where he works.
The drop-in shelter is part of the Grand Central Neighborhood Social Services Corporation, which opened in 1989 due to the need by the homeless population in the neighborhood at St. Agnes Church.
In 2005, it moved to its current location at 120 East 32nd St., between Lexington and Park avenues.
Burton described the process he completed by securing housing and other assistance he got from the facility.
“First intake, and then you work on getting a voucher. It takes about a month,” Burton said. “They have a place where you can sleep on the first floor and they provide you with three meals a day.”
Brady Crain, the executive director of MainChance, referenced “excellent” and “good” grades the center received. He also responded to the notice he received from the city about the need to close.
“I am amazed, astonished, and cannot understand what is going on,” he said
In a report prepared by the city Department of Homeless Services for the City Council, the site was described as “underperforming.” It said the closure will generate city funds savings of $3.7 million for the fiscal years 2025 and 2026.
Elected leaders wrote a letter to the mayor in support of keeping the facility open.
The letter said this year, it’s on track to exceed the more than 70,000 meals it provided last year. It also said without MainChance’s services, New Yorkers will be “isolated” from the assistance they need for “food, medical services and to start or continue their journey toward permanent housing.”
The Department of Social Services, which oversees the Department of Homeless Services in the city, released a statement saying it “has more than doubled outreach staffing and aggressively expanded specialized resources, including Safe Havens, stabilization beds, and drop-in centers citywide.”
Despite the expected closure of MainChance, Burton shared his hopes for the future.
“The help that I got from MainChance, great experience. I’ll be very sad if they close this place down, because everybody will miss out on opportunity like this, because they really helped me out,” Burton said.
According to the DSS, nearly a thousand New Yorkers this year have transitioned to permanent housing.
Crain said he plans to continue to figure this out with the help of elected leaders.
