DSS Proposes 165-Bed Men's Shelter in Maspeth Near Nightclubs

The number of daily shelter residents in New York City has doubled to approximately 83,000, a surge that has pushed the Department of Social Services to open new facilities in areas previously reserved for industrial use.

On Monday, the department notified Council Member Phil Wong of a plan to establish a 165-bed shelter for single adult men at 55-05 Flushing Avenue in Maspeth. The site is located two blocks from the Basement and Knockdown Center, two popular nightclubs. This facility would be one of three new shelter sites planned for Queens.

Lantern Community Services, a nonprofit founded in 1996, will operate the new facility. The organization currently manages 524 shelter beds and nearly 1,500 supportive and affordable housing units across 20 locations in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the Bronx. This will be Lantern's first site in Queens. Representatives for Lantern and the DSS did not respond to requests for comment.

Wong expressed skepticism about the site selection in a statement, noting that his office was only just informed of the proposal. He stated that businesses and residents already face quality of life issues in the area. Adding a large shelter without fully understanding those impacts raises legitimate questions, according to Wong.

The proposal comes as the city restructures its shelter system. The DSS funded 499 locations citywide as of September, up from 333 in 2022. Queens hosts 113 of these sites, ranking third behind Brooklyn and the Bronx. The Mamdani administration aims to close all remaining emergency migrant shelters by the end of 2026, a move that followed the closure of a 15-bed shelter at the Maspeth Jewish Center in June 2025.

Former Council Member Robert Holden, who opposed the previous Maspeth shelter, called the 2024 proposal completely unacceptable. He later noted that the city spent nearly $6.5 billion housing people with no right to be in those specific shelters. The closest current homeless shelter to Maspeth is the 200-bed Barbara Kleiman Residence in East Williamsburg, a site that resulted from a multi-decade dispute between residents and officials.

The DSS also plans to open a 200-bed single adult shelter at 24-30 Brooklyn Queens Expressway West in Woodside and a 250-unit family shelter at 9-16 27th Avenue in Astoria.

Wong said he will request meetings with DSS and Lantern to review security, operations, and the rationale for selecting the Flushing Avenue location. He expects a public information session to occur eventually, though no date has been set.