Add The New York Post on Google Mainchance just got another chance.
The homeless drop-in center in Midtown East faced closure at the end of June, but now has until mid-August to remedy alleged contract violations, Brady Crain, the CEO and executive director of Mainchance, told The Post.
A day after The Post wrote about the dire situation — which would have left homeless clients of the facility with nowhere to go — Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Lynn R. Kotler issued a stay until Aug. 11.
The 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’s operations after June 30 — the day it was slated to shut down.
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 — and then days later informed the facility that it would be closing June 30.
“Our 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,” a City Hall spokesperson previously told The Post in a statement. She declined to comment on the stay.
Mainchance, its not-for-profit operator Grand Central Neighborhood Social Services and one of its clients claimed in their recent petition the infractions are “not 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’s closure.”
An effort by the city to shutter Mainchance initially erupted in 2024 over allegations of “underperforming” during then-Mayor Eric Adams’ tenure, but the same judge, Kotler, ruled the city could not terminate the contract.
Marc Gross, attorney for Mainchance, said at the latest court appearance that he wondered if this case was a “continuation of the misconduct that started two years ago.”
“There were no communications over the two years of any, quote, ‘violations’ that we were performing or not,” said Gross.
Mainchance said it didn’t get a chance to contest the claims or rectify the issues, per court documents. Moreover, Crain denied the city’s allegations of Mainchance not providing those services to clients. If there were refusals, said Gross during last week’s appearance, they happened when the center was full during the cold spells of winter.
“Everybody is operating at capacity now. So, I think it’s an illusion that people can actually be moved out,” Gross said.
However, in the appearance, Elissa Lee with the New York City Law Department, who represented the city, said alleged contractual violations at Mainchance weren’t actually the issue.
“What this case is about is really about DHS’ decision to allow its contract with petitioner, Grand Central Neighborhood Social Services, to expire on its terms on June 30, 2026,” she said. The decision to let Mainchance’s contract expire, Lee said, “was a financial decision.”
Mainchance operates with “an annual budget of $2.8 million,” per Gross.
Lee said, “there are no funds appropriated to renew the contract.”
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.
“We just got a phone call from the city today saying ‘Take down the signs,'” Crain told The Post on Monday.
“We 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],” Crain said. He added that clients can still access the facility, which — due to not being a shelter — doesn’t have beds.
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’s. He wasn’t sure where he would go if the voucher didn’t materialize in time.
The facility, around for 35 years and at its current home since 2005, enrolled 5,800 homeless individuals as “clients” 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 — some who were repeats — slept overnight in its 72 chairs.
As the situation plays out Mainchance’s building — a three-story structure sandwiched between the luxury Marmara Hotel and Korean Cultural Center New York — asks $8 million for sale, according to an Avison Young listing. Mainchance occupies the nearly 10,000-square-foot structure on a triple-net lease.
For now, Crain said he hopes communication with the city can improve.
“Let’s please just talk,” he added.
