Mayor Mamdani has defended his administration's decision to close the 30th Street homeless intake center in the East Village after an East Village community group sued the city over the planned replacement intake site. The lawsuit alleges that the plan to open a new men’s intake center at 8 East 3rd St was rushed and undertaken without enough public review. The community group has asked a judge to halt the project before its scheduled May opening date. Maddani maintains that the city has an "urgent obligation" to transfer shelter intake to another site due to the current conditions at the current intake shelter near Bellevue Hospital.