CITYWIDE – THE CITY’S DEPARTMENT of Homeless Services is set to resume its policy of clearing homeless encampments starting next week, the New York Post reports, reversing a key campaign promise of Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
City Hall had paused the forced removals on Jan. 1, saying that the practice was not effective at moving people into shelters. Critics have cast a spotlight on this decision in recent weeks after the deaths of over a dozen people with ties to the city’s shelter system during the recent deep freeze, although the city has said none of the deceased were found in encampments.
Sources told the Post that when the sweeps resume, action will not be immediate: Outreach staff from the DHS will make contact with a camp resident, then will revisit over a weeklong period to attempt to convince the person to voluntarily accept services, before returning with police and New York City Department of Sanitation workers to clear the site, if necessary.
“The goal is to maximize placements into shelter and connect unhoused New Yorkers to the services they need so that when DSNY clears an encampment on day seven, meaningful progress has already been made,” a City Hall spokesperson said.
