{"id":159502,"date":"2026-03-10T18:51:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T18:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/159502\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T18:51:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T18:51:23","slug":"extended-code-blue-warnings-highlighted-inequities-in-new-york-city-shelter-system-new-york-city-news-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/159502\/","title":{"rendered":"Extended Code Blue Warnings Highlighted Inequities in New York City Shelter System \u2013 New York City News Service"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Editor\u2019s note: Some sources have been anonymized with their first initial due to immigration-related concerns.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

On a frigid Friday night in February, more than a dozen people, bundled inside their coats and wrapped in fleece blankets, slept restlessly on the floor of a cramped trailer adjacent to Elmhurst Hospital in Queens. Backpacks lay strewn around the small, poorly-ventilated room. The smell of alcohol clung to the air, and several people coughed. A police officer entered to provide more plastic-wrapped blankets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mostly men occupied the space, with the exception of one woman who rested beside her partner, moaning in pain.<\/p>\n

A.M., a 68-year-old Ecuadorian immigrant, who requested anonymity due to his immigration status, checked on her, asking if she was okay. He had been struggling with the increasingly harsh weather and shelter conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA crazy guy was here yesterday,\u201d he said. \u201cHe was asked to leave because he was drinking too much, and he wanted to fight with the other guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

A.M., like other unhoused individuals, sought refuge from the piercing cold inside the trailer operated by NYC Health + Hospitals (NYC H+H), which ran 18 of the 62 warming facilities across the city.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thousands of other New Yorkers had to endure unsafe, unpredictable shelter conditions<\/a> during January and February\u2019s Code Blue alerts\u2014a citywide emergency response when temperatures plummet to 32 degrees or below.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More than 20 people across the city died during the cold snap.<\/a> New York City Chief Medical Examiner Jason Graham attributed 15 of those deaths<\/a> to hypothermia during a city council oversight hearing regarding the Cold Blue response. On Feb. 9, a day before the hearing, the Department of Social Services (DSS) Commissioner, Molly Wasow Park, resigned amid the controversy of weather-related deaths.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In response to mounting pressures, Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s administration promised<\/a> to open several more warming shelters, including buses, public schools, and hospitals. Even with the city\u2019s ramped-up efforts to provide a temporary solution to the frigid weather, people looking for a warm place to rest have faced a myriad of issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the 72nd Street location in Jackson Heights\u2014also run by NYC H+H and just a few blocks from Elmhurst Hospital\u2014a vastly different scene unfolded.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Concealed from the street, the entrance was barely visible to passersby. Unlike the corridor of Elmhurst Hospital, where randomly taped signs advertised the center, no signs indicated the 72nd Street site. Upon entering the building, a security guard asked to see ID. \u201cYou\u2019re the first and only one to arrive,\u201d he said. Two rooms\u2014a section for women and one for men\u2014were empty and dimly lit. A bare, bright-white room, where men and women could intermingle, offered trays of chips, peanuts, and cookies, along with tea and coffee.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"At<\/p>\n

At the Roosevelt warming center, run by NYC Health + Hospitals, a table offered visitors food and drinks, in stark contrast with the Elmhurst Hospital trailer. (Credit: A. Felix)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

When repeatedly asked about the varying warming center standards, Adam Shrier, press secretary and director of communications at NYC H+H, declined to answer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DSS also operated several warming buses and centers. But on a recent Saturday night, Jeannie Phelps, 63, stood stranded and shivering for hours inside a Penn Station vestibule. She searched for buses that, according to the city\u2019s list of available shelters, were supposed to be stationed outside, but found none.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Jeannie<\/p>\n

Jeannie Phelps inside Penn Station after searching for warming buses advertised on the city\u2019s list of available centers. (Credit: A. Felix)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI walked all the way down and back that way and then this way,\u201d said Phelps, pointing toward Seventh Avenue. \u201cI\u2019ve been trying to find it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School on West 46th Street in Manhattan also advertised overnight availability, but those seeking refuge from the freezing winds found the doors locked. A security guard directed people to a crowded warming bus parked across the street, saying no DSS staff were present to help.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The city advertised Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis High School as an available overnight warming center, but the doors were locked. (Credit: A. Felix)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite the absence of workers, Neha Sharma, a spokesperson for the DSS, insisted that staff worked overtime throughout the cold spell.<\/p>\n

\u201cOutreach workers are out there 24\/7,\u201d said Sharma. \u201cOur teams are working around the clock.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following his experience at Elmhurst Hospital, A.M. walked to the 72nd Street location and stayed overnight, which he found much more comfortable.\u00a0 For now, the Code Blue has ended. Many warming centers have closed, forcing those who need them to search for new shelters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey told me to return to Elmhurst Hospital,\u201d A.M. said. \u201cIf you know of another place, please tell me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Editor\u2019s note: Some sources have been anonymized with their first initial due to immigration-related concerns.) \u00a0 On a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":{"0":"post-159502","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-ny","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-nyc-headlines","12":"tag-nyc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}