{"id":140886,"date":"2026-02-21T11:11:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T11:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/140886\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T11:11:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T11:11:15","slug":"mamdanis-approach-to-homeless-sweeps-and-what-else-happened-this-week-in-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/140886\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani&#8217;s Approach to Homeless Sweeps, And What Else Happened This Week in Housing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mamdani said his administration will handle public encampments differently from Mayor Eric Adams, with extra emphasis on engaging street homeless individuals to direct them to services and housing. But advocates condemned any use of sweeps, calling them \u201cinhumane\u201d and futile. <\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/tompkins-tents.jpg\" alt=\"homeless sweeps\" class=\"lazyload_inited wp-image-9970035\"  \/>New Yorkers experiencing homelessness who were camping out on a Lower Manhattan sidewalk in 2021 near Tompkins Square Park, where officials later carried out a cleanup. (Adi Talwar\/City Limits)<\/p>\n<p>For the second straight week, Mayor Zohran Mamdani is under fire from advocates who accuse him of changing course on homelessness policies.<\/p>\n<p>The mayor announced Wednesday that the city would resume homeless encampment clean ups, known as \u201csweeps,\u201d a practice <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecity.nyc\/2025\/12\/04\/mamdani-says-homeless-camps-crackdowns-will-end\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">he\u2019d previously vowed to stop<\/a>. He paused the practice in January, saying he wanted to develop his own approach to street homelessness.<\/p>\n<p>Mamdani said that the key difference between how his administration will handle public encampments and Mayor Eric Adams\u2019 approach\u2014which he called a \u201cfailure\u201d\u2014is an emphasis on engaging street homeless individuals to direct them to services and housing.<\/p>\n<p>He said that the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) would take the lead, <a href=\"https:\/\/citylimits.org\/the-nypd-now-decides-what-homeless-encampments-get-swept\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">not the Police Department (NYPD)<\/a>, and that outreach staff will make daily visits to encampments for a week before removing anyone, an effort to build trust and convince those who are wary of the shelter system to come indoors.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot only will this work be housed in a different agency, but the work itself is far different,\u201d said Mamdani at an unrelated press conference Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>But advocates for the homeless condemned reintroducing sweeps at all, saying the approach only terrorizes street homeless people rather than helps them.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s no new version of sweeps or a better version of sweeps,\u201d said Marcus Moore, who was street homeless prior to the pandemic and is now an organizer with Safety Net Activists. \u201cSweeps does not help anybody.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Mamdani\u2019s new policy\u00a0comes after his decision last week to <a href=\"https:\/\/citylimits.org\/honor-his-promise-advocates-criticize-mamdanis-cityfheps-reversal-and-what-else-happened-this-week-in-housing\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">hold up the expansion of the city\u2019s housing voucher program<\/a> known as CityFHEPS due to budget concerns.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLike Mayor Mamdani\u2019s pledge to expand CityFHEPS, his pledge to discontinue homeless sweeps is another broken promise,\u201d said the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless in a joint statement.<\/p>\n<p>Mamdani\u2019s approach to the sweeps will go something like this:<\/p>\n<p>On day one, DHS will place notices on encampment sites saying that the location will be cleaned by the Sanitation Department (DSNY) seven days later<\/p>\n<p>Each day after, DHS outreach staff will go to the site and engage the people there to offer shelter placements or other services<\/p>\n<p>On day seven, DSNY will clean up the site, with NYPD on hand if the situation escalates<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/citylimits.org\/wp-content\/plugins\/trx_addons\/components\/lazy-load\/images\/placeholder.png\" data-trx-lazyload-height=\"\" style=\"height: 0; padding-top: 56.25%;\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" data-trx-lazyload-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/tompkins-sign-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"homeless sweeps notice\" class=\"wp-image-9970036\"\/>A flyer near Tompkins Square Park in 2021 notifying homeless New Yorkers about a planned city \u201cclean up,\u201d of the site. ((Adi Talwar\/City Limits)<\/p>\n<p>City Hall said the mayor\u2019s preliminary budget includes additional funding for homeless street outreach to facilitate the policy, with $31 million for DHS and $11.9 million for NYC Health + Hospitals\u2019 support.<\/p>\n<p>But homeless advocacy groups said they see little difference between Mamdani\u2019s plan and those of past city leaders. While the NYPD led encampment sweeps during the Adams administration, Mayor Bill de Blasio also <a href=\"https:\/\/citylimits.org\/city-doing-hundreds-of-homeless-clean-ups-each-year\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">centered DHS outreach workers<\/a>, with similarly poor results, critics say.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese sweeps failed on multiple fronts: they were inhumane, stripping unhoused New Yorkers of their few belongings and eroding trust in city services, and they were ineffective, doing little more than pushing people out of sight,\u201d Legal Aid and the Coalition for the Homeless said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>City Hall said that the seven days of \u201crelentless\u201d engagement makes their approach unique.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But resistance to entering shelter, Moore said, is not about how many times people receive outreach services, but what the city actually offers those it wants to come inside. Many unhoused New Yorkers have cited concerns about <a href=\"https:\/\/citylimits.org\/no-recording-policy-in-city-shelters-draws-backlash-from-residents-and-advocates\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">safety<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/citylimits.org\/stringer-deplores-conditions-in-city-homeless-shelters\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">poor conditions<\/a> in city shelters, especially large congregate facilities. \u201cIf all you can offer them is kind of a shelter and dehumanize them, that\u2019s not good enough,\u201d said Moore.<\/p>\n<p>City Hall said that they made over 1,400 placements to shelters and Safe Havens\u2014sites with more privacy and fewer restrictions than traditional shelters\u2014during the recent cold snap. They also opened a new 106-bed Safe Haven shelter in lower Manhattan on Feb 3.<\/p>\n<p>But Moore was disappointed in the administration for resuming the sweeps. \u201cThat\u2019s the same talk and philosophy that I\u2019d been hearing when I was actually out there,\u201d he said. \u201cSame script, different time, different year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s what else happened in housing this week \u2014<\/p>\n<p>ICYMI, from City Limits: <\/p>\n<p>Gov. Hochul wants to expand eligibility that freezes rents for seniors and people with disabilities, offsetting the costs with tax breaks. But advocates and tenants themselves say more reforms are needed to ensure the programs actually help those who need it, <a href=\"https:\/\/citylimits.org\/hochul-wants-to-expand-rent-freezes-for-senior-disabled-new-yorkers-can-the-state-get-them-to-sign-up\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">citing a low uptake rate and stagnant enrollment<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A workforce training program in Queens <a href=\"https:\/\/citylimits.org\/at-queens-job-training-program-immigrant-workers-learn-to-navigate-life-in-nyc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">teaches immigrants more than how to get a job<\/a>, helping them navigate the city\u2019s rental market, public transit system and other how-tos of life in New York.<\/p>\n<p>ICYMI, from other local newsrooms: <\/p>\n<p>Mamdani unveiled his first preliminary budget proposal this week, where he reiterated his call for the state to raise taxes on the wealthy\u2014and if it doesn\u2019t, he said, the city would pursue a property tax hike \u201cas a last resort\u201d to plug its budget deficient, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cityandstateny.com\/policy\/2026\/02\/mamdani-hochul-raise-taxes-or-else\/411469\/?oref=csny-homepage-river\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">City &amp; State reports<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>A court has temporarily halted NYCHA\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/citylimits.org\/weigh-in-deadline-for-comments-on-nychas-fulton-and-elliott-chelsea-plan-extended-to-5-19\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">plan to demolish and rebuild<\/a> the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses, as it reviews a lawsuit filed by a group of tenants looking to block the controversial plan, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecity.nyc\/2026\/02\/19\/court-halts-demolition-nycha-fulton-elliott-chelsea-houses\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">The City reports<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>The Mamdani administration will close the city\u2019s last remaining emergency migrant shelter by the end of the year, <a href=\"https:\/\/gothamist.com\/news\/mamdani-to-close-nycs-last-emergency-migrant-shelter-by-end-of-year\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Gothamist reports<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>The mayor appointed a slew of new members this week the city\u2019s Rent Guidelines Board, as he seeks to fulfill his campaign pledge to freeze rents for tenants in stabilized units across the city, <a href=\"https:\/\/ny1.com\/nyc\/all-boroughs\/news\/2026\/02\/18\/mamdani-makes-six-appointments-to-rent-guidelines-board\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">NY1 reports<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>To reach the reporter behind this story, contact <a href=\"https:\/\/citylimits.org\/cdn-cgi\/l\/email-protection\" class=\"__cf_email__\" data-cfemail=\"e3b38297918a8088a3808a979a8f8a8e8a9790cd8c9184\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>. 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