When the entire subway system shuts down in the early morning hours, beginning Wednesday, the roughly 2,200 people who sleep in the New York City subways every night will have to look for another place to lay down their heads.

Vance Hinton, 66, is one of them. He has been homeless since 2010 and sleeps on the subway a few times a week.

“It's a horrifying situation for people who have no choice,” he said. “The homeless, undomiciled population of this city are without sanctuary. They're the worst treated.”

During the overnight closures, the MTA will disinfect trains in light of the coronavirus crisis. City officials say outreach teams will engage the homeless in the subway system and offer them shelter. But advocates say many will refuse to go and will instead take refuge in other places, such as in parks, along waterways, and under bridges.

“People will be pushed out of the trains in places that are not set up to provide services to them and they will disperse at best,” said Josh Goldfein, staff attorney at Legal Aid.

Some homeless people avoid shelters because they think they're not safe. The city is opening 200 beds in "safe havens." They're are smaller than traditional shelters, but Goldfein says that's not good enough because people often don’t get a room to themselves.

“People are on the subway because they're afraid to go anywhere else,” he said. “We have tens of thousands of empty hotel rooms in New York City right now. And the city should be offering them to people who are unable to socially distance in any other way.”

The city is moving 3,500 people into hotels, but advocates say they need to move many more.