The rendering of the New Providence Redevelopment. Image Credit: NYC CPC/HPD/DHS.

The new shelter replaces an existing shelter on site. On February 16, 2022, the City Planning Commission voted to approve an application from the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and Department of Homeless Services (DHS) that will facilitate the construction of a new 21-story building that will provide supportive and affordable housing along with an emergency shelter at 225 East 45th Street in East Midtown. The new building will replace the existing women’s shelter which is currently retrofitted into two buildings. The proposed building can be constructed as-of-right, but still requires public review as it is a City-owned site.

The building will have 130 supportive and affordable housing units. Seventy-nine units will be supportive housing for formerly homeless tenants, and will be priced at 30 percent of their income. The remaining units will be affordable at 60 percent area median income. All units will be studios, and there will be laundry facilities and a multi-purpose room for residents.. On-site social services will be provided through Project Renewal, which is the existing women’s shelter’s current operator. 

The building will also have a new shelter with 171 beds for single women with psychiatric diagnoses. Kitchen, dining, laundry rooms and occupational therapy rooms will be available for shelter residents. The building’s ground floor will feature a medical clinic that serves the whole community. While the existing building has a medical clinic, to access it visitors have to walk through the shelter, making it essentially inaccessible to the public. 

At the public hearing, the applicants confirmed that current shelter residents would be moved to permanent housing before the project commences, and if not in permanent housing they would be placed in shelters that are ideally close to their support networks. 

The City Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve the project, with the exception of Chair Dan Garodnick who abstained as the public hearing was held prior to his appointment to the City Planning Commission, and Commissioner Alfred C. Cerullo, who was recused. 

The application now moves to the City Council for review.

By: Veronica Rose (Veronica is the CityLaw fellow and a New York Law School graduate, Class of 2018.)