"Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed reports Wednesday that he intends to restart homeless encampment sweeps after a historic cold snap resulted in the deaths of 20 New Yorkers reversing his own stance on the policy. Unlike the city's previous policy under former Mayor Eric Adams, which charged the NYPD with sweeping homeless encampments, Mamdani will put the Department of Homeless Services in charge a move in line with his efforts to shift responsibilities such as mental health response and homeless outreach away from the NYPD and toward other agencies."
"A March 2025 Gothamist report on the practice revealed that, of the 3,500 people moved out of homeless encampments between January and September 2024, only 114 were moved into shelters. But at an unrelated news conference Wednesday, Mamdani announced that his administration would be continuing encampment sweeps after pausing the Adams administration's policy, which he called a failure, on Jan. 5. 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 said."
Mayor Zohran Mamdani will resume homeless encampment sweeps following a historic cold snap that preceded 20 deaths. The administration will assign the Department of Homeless Services, not the NYPD, to lead the sweeps as part of a broader effort to shift mental health response and homeless outreach away from police. A March 2025 report found that of 3,500 people moved from encampments in 2024, only 114 entered shelters. Mamdani had paused the previous administration's sweep policy on Jan. 5 to develop an alternative, but later announced continuation of sweeps amid criticism of City Hall's cold-weather response and a prolonged Code Blue.
Read at www.amny.com
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