New York City’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, promised on Thursday to end homeless encampment sweeps when he takes over next month.
Mamdani said he would discontinue a priority enacted by current Mayor Eric Adams, who attempted to clear out “makeshift, unsafe houses” that have popped up throughout the city, The New York Post reported. The mayor-elect will stop the sweeps despite city officials receiving more than 45,000 complaints about the homeless encampments so far this year.
Mamdani argued that the Adams administration’s policy has failed because it did not connect “homeless New Yorkers to the housing that they so desperately need.”
“We are going to take an approach that understands its mission is connecting those New Yorkers to housing,” Mamdani added. “Whether it’s supportive housing, whether it’s rental housing, whatever kind of housing it is, because what we have seen is the treatment of homelessness as if it is a natural part of living in this city, when in fact, it’s more often a reflection of a political choice being made.”
New York City currently urges residents to “report homeless people who have established encampments on public property,” adding, “In New York City, obstructions and encampments are not allowed.”
Mamdani cruised to a landslide mayoral election victory over former New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa last month in part because of his focus on affordability and housing. Mamdani vowed to build more affordable housing in the city and said he would push to freeze rents in some apartment buildings.
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He did not specify how he would address complaints about homeless encampments or if he would remove the city’s online complaint portal. New York City’s homeless population has skyrocketed in recent years, largely due to the massive influx of illegal immigrants, according to the New York state government. In January 2022, an estimated 45,343 people were in the city’s homeless shelters. Just two years later, there were nearly 90,000.
Mamdani’s opposition to the sweeps is partly based on a 2023 audit released by New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, which found that during Mayor Adams’ homeless encampment raids, only a small percentage of homeless people removed from their makeshift housing accepted temporary shelter with the city, Fox News reported.
“The evidence is clear: by every measure, the homeless sweeps failed,” Lander argued.
The Adams administration has pushed back on the audit, saying that Lander’s findings took the data “out of context.”
“Cherry-picking numbers and sharing them out of context paint a disingenuous picture as these cleanups have actually connected more than 500 New Yorkers to safe, stable housing,” City Hall said on Thursday.
“New York City continues to have the lowest rate of unsheltered homelessness of any major city in the nation,” City Hall added.
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