Exclusive | NYC closes Midtown East’s sole homeless drop-in center

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Midtown East loses its only homeless shelter as city shutters 35-year-old center

By Lauren Elkies Schram Published June 30, 2026, 5:01 p.m. ET

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City Hall insists it is tackling New York’s homeless crisis — but in Midtown East, it’s about to get worse.

At the end of business Tuesday, the Mainchance homeless drop-in center — the sole homeless center in the neighborhood — will close for good, displacing dozens of the neighborhood’s most vulnerable residents.

The city decided not to renew the contract for the drop-in center, which has operated for 35 years and is currently located at 120 E. 32nd St. A Manhattan Supreme Court judge had previously issued a stay until Aug. 11, but she vacated that order June 23 after the city filed an emergency appeal, clearing the way for the closure.

People walk past the Mainchance homeless shelter on June 3, 2026 in New York City. — It’s closing time at Mainchance. Michael Nigro for NY Post

“Many of the clients don’t want to go,” Brady Crain, CEO and executive director of Mainchance, told The Post. “Just last week we had 66 people staying overnight. We were fully operating.”

The Department of Homeless Services has been on site, directing clients to various social service providers.

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Crain said he is “very worried” about the clients.

On June 26, Mainchance put its chairs out on the sidewalk for the taking, Crain said. Tuesday morning, the center gave out its remaining pantry items to clients. By midday, only staff remained on site.

“The city had determined that the drop-in center is not an efficient, effective use of the city’s limited resources,” the city’s attorney said in court on June 18.

Mainchance looked empty by Monday afternoon. Courtesy of Mainchance

Instead, the city wants the homeless to go into safe havens, where they can sleep in a bed overnight before moving into permanent housing. Mainchance submitted a proposal to convert from a drop-in center to a safe haven a couple of years ago, which the city said it is still considering.

Roschel Holland Stearns, who sits on the Mainchance board, said the city’s shelter system is “full.”

Mainchance, which has operated out of its current location 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. A total of more than 20,000 people — some repeat visitors — slept overnight in its 72 chairs.

Mainchance CEO Brady Cain, and Deputy Director, Jacqueline Connor, stand inside a barren room together. — The drop-in center, led by CEO Brady Cain, and Jacqueline Connor, its deputy director, will cease operating at the end of Tuesday. Courtesy of Mainchance

Another 21,000-plus homeless people visited to eat, shower, rest and receive medical and mental health services.

Mainchance relied primarily on $2.8 million in annual funding from the DHS budget.

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It's closing time at Mainchance. Michael Nigro for NY Post

Mainchance looked empty by Monday afternoon. Courtesy of Mainchance

The drop-in center, led by CEO Brady Cain, and Jacqueline Connor, its deputy director, will cease operating at the end of Tuesday. Courtesy of Mainchance

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Soccer fans sent a message to Washington on Iran — deal or no deal

FIFA World Cup fans sent a message to Washington on Iran

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Soccer fans sent a message to Washington on Iran — deal or no deal

By Lisa Daftari Published June 30, 2026, 6:33 p.m. ET

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Two games were being played at Los Angeles Stadium on June 15. The first was the Islamic Republic’s World Cup match against New Zealand, its first of the tournament. The second was being played outside, where the Iranian American community organized a large anti-regime demonstration.

Many in the diaspora were not there to watch soccer. They had come to confront the regime on the only piece of American soil where they could, and to send a message to Washington.

The Memorandum of Understanding may have been signed with Iran, but the Iranian people have not signed onto it.

Iranian Americans flew the pre-revolutionary Lion and Sun flag the regime calls illegitimate.

The protesters carried signs that said “42,000.” That is the number of Iranians reportedly killed by the Islamic Republic in January, documented by human rights organizations. They passed out T-shirts with the faces of the young men and women rounded up during the January uprisings, tried in revolutionary courts behind closed doors and executed.

I have covered this community for more than two decades. This was not protest theater. They were there to make a policy statement the only way the diaspora can.

The crowd chanted for King Reza Pahlavi. They chanted death to the Islamic Republic. They chanted “terrorist” at the regime’s representatives walking into the stadium. They flew the pre-revolutionary Lion and Sun flag the regime calls illegitimate. FIFA, at the regime’s request, had tried to ban it inside the stadium.

Iranian American advocacy organizations appealed through FIFA’s own process and lost. They went to federal court seeking a restraining order and lost again. The diaspora was told, in effect, that on US soil during an American-hosted tournament, the symbolic preferences of the Islamic Republic outweighed the First Amendment rights of Iranian Americans.

They came anyway. They brought the flags anyway. Tehran was watching. So was Washington.

Two women at a stadium hold a flag combining the flags of Israel, Iran, and the United States. — Many in the Iranian diaspora had come to confront the regime on the only piece of American soil where they could.

Every previous US administration has negotiated with the regime while ignoring the needs, human rights and security of the Iranian people. The diaspora was telling the Trump administration not to make the same mistake.

The Iranian people are not a challenge or an afterthought. They are a constituency. And they have been a reliable anti-regime force and American ally against a terrorist government for 47 years.

The MOU is a framework, not a final deal. There is still time. The Iranian American community is asking President Donald Trump to remember who built his political leverage going into Operation Epic Fury and beyond. The policy of “maximum pressure” worked because the Iranian people made it work from the inside. The protests of 2009, 2017, 2019, 2022 and January 2026 are the reason why this regime came to the table at all.

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Yet every time the regime came close to collapse, an outside power threw it a lifeline. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was one such lifeline. The diaspora outside the stadium is telling the administration not to make the MOU the next lifeline.

President Trump may be willing to look past the transgressions of the regime in pursuit of a deal. The Iranian people are not. They are not going to forgive a system that executed their children. And they are not going to accept a peace negotiated in their name but signed without their consent.

A few things should follow from what Washington heard outside LA’s stadium.

President Trump has an opportunity here that no recent president has had. The regime is weaker than it has been since 1979. The Iranian American community is the most informed, pro-democracy advocacy bloc on this question in the country. They are asking for a policy that does not reward the regime they fled.

The Iranian people have lived under this regime for 47 years. They have buried its victims. They have watched every Western government that ever tried to negotiate with it repeat the same mistakes, convinced the next round would be different, and they have watched the regime pocket every concession and come back for more.

The diaspora outside the stadium was telling the world what it has been telling Washington for a generation. This regime was not built to compromise. It was not built to play nice. It does not deserve the deal it is being offered.

Washington should listen to the Iranian people, because they have earned the right to be heard.

Lisa Daftari is a foreign policy analyst and media commentator based in Los Angeles.

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Republicans to hold their first-ever midterm convention in Dallas, Trump announces

US President Donald Trump during a Presidential memorandum in the Oval Office.

President Donald Trump said the two-day event would highlight accomplishments from his second term.Samuel Corum / Bloomberg via Getty Images

By Bridget Bowman

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that Republicans will hold a party convention in Dallas in September, noting in a Truth Social post that the event will be the first of its kind for the GOP in a midterm election year.

Trump described the convention, scheduled for Sept. 9-10, as a “truly Historic Event.”

“Dallas will take center stage on September 9th and 10th as we celebrate our Nation, our achievements, and our bright future. THE GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICA HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN!” Trump said in his post.

The party gathering comes as Republicans are defending narrow majorities in the House and Senate, and as the president’s sinking approval rating has put those majorities at risk.

Texas will be at the center of this year’s fight for control of Congress, with multiple House battlegrounds and competitive races for Senate, and potentially for governor. A New York Times/Siena poll released Tuesday found a tied Senate race between Democratic state Rep. James Talarico and his Republican opponent, state Attorney General Ken Paxton, while Gov. Greg Abbott holds a six-point lead over Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa in the governor’s race.

Trump on Tuesday offered a preview of the potential programming, writing on Truth Social: “At the Event, we will have hardworking Americans, our Great Innovators, Entrepreneurs, Manufacturers, First Responders, and Job Creators who are powering our Nation’s Golden Age, and proving that America’s best days are still ahead of us. We will also have lots of Great Entertainment — It will be a RALLY like none other!”

Trump announced plans for a midterm convention late last year. Democrats are not planning to hold a similar event.

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