Homeless New Yorkers and advocates say clearing encampments often only moves people instead of helping them.

What You Need To Know

The debate was playing out along the busy West Side Highway, where a small encampment sits across from the Intrepid

The city says outreach now happens for seven days before a noticed encampment is cleared

More than 100 healthcare professionals and organizations also signed a letter to the administration arguing sweeps can disrupt care and scatter support systems people rely on

“As I was getting cleaned up, I wasn’t getting help,” formerly homeless New Yorker Eduardo Ventura said.

Ventura says he experienced multiple sweeps before eventually getting an apartment.

“We just come back because this is a safe place that we created,” he said.

That debate was playing out along the busy West Side Highway, where a small encampment sits across from the Intrepid.

“We’re hearing this administration say that they want to pursue actual solutions, that they want people to be housed off the street, they want people to get the care that they need from the street,” Helen Strom from the Safety Net Project said.

The city says outreach now happens for seven days before a noticed encampment is cleared.

More than 100 healthcare professionals and organizations also signed a letter to the administration arguing sweeps can disrupt care and scatter support systems people rely on.

“When a sweep happens, all that gets dispersed, all that goes away,” Marc Shi with Health Justice for New York said.

At Washington Square Park on Thursday, advocates tried to model the approach they want instead by passing out toiletries and other supplies before doing outreach themselves.

“We need a new approach to outreach, and you’re seeing it happening to today,” formerly homeless New Yorker Marcus Moore said.

The rally comes the same day the state comptroller released reported overall homelessness in the city fell more than 10% between January 2024 and January 2025.

NY1 reached out to the Mamdani administration multiple times to respond to the criticism raised by advocates and has not heard back.