Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Wednesday New York City will resume clearing homeless encampments after pausing the practice in January while the administration developed a new approach.
Under the plan, the Department of Homeless Services — not the police — will lead efforts. Mamdani said the city will post a notice before a site is cleared, send outreach workers there daily for a week to connect people with shelter and services, and have sanitation crews dismantle the encampment on the seventh day with the expectation that tents and belongings will have been moved.
“We will meet them looking to connect them with shelter, looking to connect them with services, looking to connect them with a city that wants them to be sheltered and indoors and warm and safe,” Mamdani said during a news conference, adding he believed the sustained outreach would produce better results than the prior administration’s policy. Mamdani paused the previous practice on Jan. 5 after taking office in December and had criticized how his predecessor handled encampments.
David Giffen, executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless, said his group was “blindsided” by the announcement and called the move a “political response” that could undermine trust between outreach workers and unsheltered people and increase risks during extreme weather. At least 19 people have died outside during a prolonged cold stretch in the city, officials said. The mayor’s office said there is no evidence that anyone who died was living in encampments and encouraged people experiencing homelessness to use shelters, heated buses and warming centers.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
