FILE: An officer removes objects from a homeless encampment.
Photograph by Dean Moses
Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed stories Wednesday that he intends to restart homeless encampment sweeps after a historic chilly snap resulted within the deaths of 20 New Yorkers — reversing his personal stance on the coverage.
Not like the town’s earlier coverage below former Mayor Eric Adams, which charged the NYPD with sweeping homeless encampments, Mamdani will put the Division of Homeless Companies in cost — a transfer in keeping with his efforts to shift obligations similar to psychological well being response and homeless outreach away from the NYPD and towards different companies.
Mamdani had beforehand ended the apply of homeless encampment sweeps, a apply of which he has lengthy been vital, saying on the matter throughout his marketing campaign: “If you are not connecting homeless New Yorkers to the housing that they so desperately need, then you cannot deem anything you’re doing to be a success.”
A March 2025 Gothamist report on the apply revealed that, of the three,500 individuals moved out of homeless encampments between January and September 2024, solely 114 had been moved into shelters.
“I made a decision with my team to put a pause on that prior administration’s policy as we started to develop our own policy that would deliver far better outcomes for the city,” Mamdani mentioned.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani driving the subway.Photograph by Lloyd Mitchell
The mayor has confronted scrutiny from different metropolis elected officers over Metropolis Corridor’s response to the extended chilly snap, which was one of many longest spells of freezing temperatures within the metropolis in latest reminiscence. The administration declared a Code Blue that lasted a number of weeks, requiring metropolis shelters to just accept all individuals searching for refuge from the chilly and triggering extra homeless outreach.
“We knew that that is a policy that we would only deliver on once the prolonged Code Blue came to an end, because, as we know, in a Code Blue, the focus should be on getting homeless New Yorkers inside, not on the question of how we respond to structures,” the mayor mentioned.
Metropolis Council Speaker Julie Menin criticized the town’s response to the chilly at a listening to on the matter final week. When reached for remark, a spokesperson for Menin referred New York News to her earlier feedback on homeless outreach.
“These deaths are not inevitable,” Menin mentioned on the listening to. “They are the result of gaps in outreach, shelter capacity, mental health services, and follow-up.”
Metropolis officers testified on the Feb. 10 listening to that about 22% of Code Blue calls to emergency responders, primarily by 311, had been closed with out help between Jan. 19 and Feb. 10. Responders generally couldn’t discover the person reported by a caller. In different instances, people within the chilly declined assist or had been deemed to not want it.
All through the chilly snap, the Mamdani administration arrange warming facilities and autos, opened personal lodge shelter items, and emphasised repeated outreach to get as many New Yorkers as attainable inside.
After the New York Submit first reported the coverage change on Tuesday night, the Authorized Help Society and the Coalition for the Homeless condemned the shift in a Wednesday morning assertion.
“If the Mayor wants to see fewer encampments, the City should expand on the efforts of the last few weeks by increasing the number of outreach workers and offering unsheltered individuals low-barrier shelter beds, such as safe havens and stabilization beds, and immediate access to supportive housing,” the organizations wrote.
Authorized Help and the Coalition for the Homeless referred to as the transfer “another broken promise” by the administration, citing Mamdani’s latest reversal of his earlier promise to increase rental help by CityFHEPS.
“These sweeps failed on multiple fronts: they were inhumane, stripping unhoused New Yorkers of their few belongings and eroding trust in city services, and they were ineffective, doing little more than pushing people out of sight,” the organizations wrote.
Outreach groups, after offering preliminary discover on day one, Mamdani mentioned, will repeatedly proceed outreach to people in homeless encampments for seven days earlier than initiating a sweep.
The mayor mentioned that “relentless outreach” is important to attach with homeless New Yorkers who is likely to be skeptical or cautious or working with the town to search out supportive housing.
Mamdani famous that the town included a proposal for elevated funding for homeless outreach within the mayor’s first preliminary finances, launched on Tuesday.
