New York City’s homeless hypothermia-related deaths are likely to be “outside the norm” this year compared to the average, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s outgoing social services commissioner testified on Tuesday.
Over a typical year, 10 to 20 homeless people die of hypothermia, the commissioner, Molly Wasow Park told the City Council; so far this year, at least 15 people have died of hypothermia, with at least some having had histories of homelessness, the administration has said.
“I think it is certainly safe to say that this is gonna be a year that is outside the norm, which is tragic, and I feel that every day,” Park said, speaking at a council oversight hearing at City Hall examining the city’s response to the cold.
At least 18 people have died outdoors or in the subway system, the Mamdani administration has said, and three of the deaths were drug overdoses.
The New York City Council held a hearing on the city’s cold weather deaths on Tuesday. Credit: Newsday/Matthew Chayes
Since last month, Mamdani has implemented Code Blue protocols under which the authorities are legally allowed to force a person off the street and into a hospital if the person is a danger to oneself or others, which includes failing to be appropriately dressed for inclement weather.
Since Jan. 19, police officers and social services outreach workers have forcibly removed 85 people from the street, testified Park and Alex Crohn, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of strategic initiatives. Of the 85, 52 were removed by the NYPD, and 33 by social services workers.
But no one can be forced to come in from the elements if the person is of sound mind and isn’t a danger to self or others, Park and Crohn said.
“These are adults with agency and civil rights,” Park said.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.