Getting Into NYC Family Shelter Through PATH: What Intake Really Looks Like

2 hours ago

7 min read

If your family has nowhere safe to sleep tonight, New York City has one front door: the PATH intake center in the Bronx. It's open around the clock, but applying usually takes most of a day and can spread over more than a week. Here's what happens on each floor, what to bring, how the eligibility investigation works, and what you can do if DHS says no.

AT A GLANCE

Where: PATH (Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing), 151 East 151st Street at Walton Avenue, Bronx, NY 10451.
When: Open 24 hours a day, every day. Applications are processed during business hours, which the DHS website gives as 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Who: Families with children under 21, pregnant women, and couples who are married, domestic partners or co-parents with at least one child or a pregnancy.
How long: DHS says the average visit takes 6 to 8 hours. Then you may get a conditional placement for up to 10 days while DHS checks your housing history.
Phones: PATH toll-free 1-844-DHS-PATH (347-7284). State Fair Hearings 800-205-0110 or 800-342-3334.

Is PATH the right door for you?

PATH is only for families with children, and DHS defines that broadly. According to the DHS website and the PATH Welcome Guide, you can apply at PATH if your household is:

a family with children younger than 21
a pregnant woman, including a single pregnant woman
a family that includes a pregnant woman
a married couple or domestic partners with at least one child or a pregnancy
an unmarried couple who are co-parents of at least one child, with both names on the birth certificate

If everyone in your family is 21 or older, go to the Adult Family Intake Center (AFIC) at 333 Bowery Street in Manhattan instead. It's also open 24 hours.

If you haven't lost your housing yet, DHS says families are best served by prevention, with shelter as a last resort. Start with Homebase. Homebase offices in all five boroughs help low-income New Yorkers at risk of entering shelter with eviction prevention, emergency rental help, public benefits and relocation. Call 311 or look up your designated office on the HRA Homebase locations page.

What to bring

DHS asks you to bring identification for everyone in your household. The website and the Welcome Guide list these items between them:

Item	Who needs it	Notes
Photo ID with proof of age (welfare ID, green card, driver's license, passport, visa or work ID)	Every adult 18 and older	If you don't have ID, the guide says PATH will help.
Birth certificate and Social Security card	Every household member	The guide says you can still apply without a Social Security card.
Medicaid card or Public Assistance ID card	Anyone who has one
Most recent pay stub	Anyone who works
Eviction notice or police reports	If they apply to you	These help explain why you can't go back.
Proof of where you lived for the past 2 years	The household	DHS will investigate your 2-year housing history.

If you're missing papers, you can still apply. DHS says family workers on site help families get documents from government agencies and other sources "to the extent reasonably possible."

Your day at PATH, floor by floor

The PATH Welcome Guide (revised December 2024) describes the building in order. All adults in the household must be present for the application. Children under 18 don't have to come, but PATH staff must be able to see them by video, and you must bring them to the shelter by curfew the day after you're placed.

Reception, 1st floor. Staff enter your information from the Client Worksheet and give you a ticket.
Diversion, remote (8 a.m. to 10 p.m.). An HRA worker on video asks whether you have any other way to stay housed. Options include an Enhanced One Shot Deal or other subsidies and services. Cash Assistance applications are also handled here.
Resource Room, 2nd floor (8 a.m. to midnight). Social workers can help with eviction assistance, CityFHEPS referrals, family mediation, crisis counseling, relocation through Project Reconnect, mental health assessments, and referrals to mother-child or youth shelters.
Family Worker interview, 3rd to 5th floors. This is the main interview. A worker writes down a detailed account of where you've lived for the past two years.
NoVA Unit, 6th floor. If you're a domestic violence survivor or at risk, HRA's No Violence Again unit decides whether to place you in a confidential DV shelter. NoVA appointments are required for the people named, and the guide warns that your case may be closed if you skip them.
Placement waiting area, lower level. You wait here while DHS finds a shelter, then transportation can be arranged.

If you arrive after business hours, the guide says your family may be sent to an overnight shelter and brought back to PATH the next morning to finish.

"Should DHS find your case eligible, in most scenarios, you will remain in your assigned shelter until you transition back to the community." (NYC Department of Homeless Services, PATH Welcome Guide)

Things that make the wait easier

PATH has a 24-hour pantry with snacks, formula and some baby supplies. It also has phone charging stations on every waiting floor, a luggage area, and a Floating Hospital clinic for pregnancy checks and children's shots. For children ages 5 to 12, there's a Child Wait Space, open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Interpreters are available, and deaf or hard-of-hearing applicants can ask for sign language interpretation in person or by video.

After the interview: conditional placement and the investigation

DHS can place you in a shelter for up to 10 days while it checks what you told the family worker. The question is whether you cooperated fully and whether you have any other place to stay. To keep this short:

Send any documents they ask for right away. You don't have to go back in person. Fax them to 917-637-7756 or email ProgramGroup@dhs.nyc.gov, with your full name and case number on every page.
Call to confirm they arrived at 718-716-6013, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Go to every appointment, including NoVA appointments if you have them.
Tell DHS where your children go to school. DHS says it considers where the youngest school-age child goes to school when choosing a placement. Department of Education liaisons at PATH can arrange school transportation and write an absence letter. For transportation questions, call 718-392-8855.

Shelter placement can be in any of the five boroughs. PATH can't choose a specific shelter for you or change the one you're given.

If someone in your family has a disability

You can ask for a reasonable accommodation. Examples from the guide include a first-floor or elevator site, a private bathroom or kitchen, a refrigerator for medication, or a placement in the same borough as your doctors. Usually you'll need a letter from your doctor or mental health provider, but not when the need is obvious, like a wheelchair or walker. Ask for the Manager on Duty to get the form.

If DHS finds you ineligible

Step	When	What to know
Legal conference at PATH	9 a.m. the day after you get the ineligibility notice	You can bring a lawyer, friend or relative.
New York State Fair Hearing	Within 60 days of the ineligibility decision	Call 800-205-0110 or 800-342-3334.
Reapply	Any time you have a housing emergency	If you reapply within 30 days of an ineligible decision and don't show an immediate need, you won't get shelter while the new application is reviewed.

What usually decides a case is the two-year housing history. If DHS believes you can go back to a relative's or friend's home, write down specifically why you can't: overcrowding, a lease that forbids it, the host refusing, or safety. Bring proof such as a letter from the leaseholder, a lease page or police reports.

Once you're in shelter

DHS runs about 150 family shelters, mostly through nonprofit providers. Your caseworker will help you write an Independent Living Plan. You're expected to apply for and keep Public Assistance, look for work if you're able, and view apartments several times a week with your housing specialist. Homebase case managers at PATH can also refer families leaving shelter for the CityFHEPS rental subsidy.

To report heat, water, pests or repairs, call the Shelter Repair Hotline at 718-557-1399 or 311. For problems you can't solve with your shelter, the DSS Office of the Ombudsman offers mediation by phone, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. You can reach it at 718-557-1399, at 311, or by email at ombudsman@dss.nyc.gov.

Before you call

☐ Photo ID for every adult, plus birth certificates and Social Security cards for everyone you have them for
☐ Medicaid or Public Assistance cards and your latest pay stub
☐ Your addresses for the past two years, with names and phone numbers of anyone you stayed with
☐ Eviction papers, marshal's notices, police reports or a letter from the person who asked you to leave
☐ Your children's school names and any medical or disability paperwork
☐ A phone charger, any medications, and diapers or formula if you have them

WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK

If you still have a place for now, call 311 and ask for your Homebase office before you lose it.
If you have to leave tonight, go to PATH at 151 East 151st Street in the Bronx (2, 4 or 5 train to 149th St–Grand Concourse). Plan to be there most of the day.
Write down your two-year housing history now, while you can still think clearly.
If you get an ineligibility notice, go to the 9 a.m. conference the next day. If that fails, call for a Fair Hearing within 60 days.

More help in New York City

Related guides

Free eviction lawyers in NYC housing court (Right to Counsel)

Official sources

Last checked: October 23, 2026. Details come from the DHS families pages and the PATH Welcome Guide (BK-32, rev. 12/2024). For the main PATH line, the DHS website lists 718-503-6400 and the guide lists 718-716-6000 and 1-844-DHS-PATH. Hours and unit locations can change, so ask at reception.