{"id":302031,"date":"2026-07-21T18:40:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T18:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/302031\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T18:40:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T18:40:16","slug":"stubborn-vagrants-at-nycs-intrepid-encampments-set-up-new-shelters-in-game-of-cleanup-whack-a-mole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/302031\/","title":{"rendered":"Stubborn vagrants at NYC’s Intrepid encampments set up new shelters in game of cleanup Whack-a-Mole"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stubborn vagrants are refusing to abandon their filthy encampments along<\/a> Manhattan\u2019s West Side, in some cases setting up new shelters a block away after city workers push them out, locals said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

After weeks of gripes from locals, City Hall finally began dismantling some of the makeshift shelters that turned part of the Big Apple into skid row \u2014 but it\u2019s not fixing the problem, The Post has learned. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe cops came and moved them yesterday and they just moved right back,\u201d a frustrated construction worker on 36th Street said. \u201cThey cleaned up the north side of the street, you know, cops, sanitation, everything and these guys were right back here the next morning when we came.<\/p>\n

The West Side shantytown has now plagued a stretch of Manhattan for weeks \u2014 and is still up. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n

Mayor Mamdani\u2019s soft-on-homeless policy kept cops from tearing down encampments for more than a week. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been testing us,\u201d the worker said. \u201cThis guy will go grab something and you\u2019re like, \u2018Hey! Where you going with that?\u2019 They\u2019ll just look at you and start taking a step towards you to see if you\u2019re gonna fight them for whatever they\u2019re taking. They\u2019re not harmless.\u201d<\/p>\n

The unsightly shantytown<\/a> ran more than a dozen blocks, roughly between the floating Intrepid Museum and the Jacob Javits Center, with a string of littered encampments that included drug and sex peddlers. <\/p>\n

The Post first reported on the situation nearly two weeks ago, but City Hall has been largely mum.<\/p>\n

Mayor Zohram Mamdani\u2019s hands-off approach to the homeless crisis<\/a> handcuffed cops, barring them from taking down homeless encampments in a new policy that first deploys homeless services and outreach workers to speak to the vagrants and offer placements and services.<\/p>\n

New York\u2019s Finest are only allowed to intervene seven days after the first outreach.<\/p>\n

That deadline came Monday, when sanitation crews and cops began cleaning up some of the sites and taking down some of the shelters and tents \u2014 which did little to change things.<\/p>\n

Arriving cruise passengers gawk at one of the many homeless encampments along Manahttan\u2019s West Side. Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Post<\/p>\n

City workers began to clean up and dismantle some shelters, but the vagrants have just moved to the next block James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n

Despite the city finally trying to clean up, the homeless encampments have proven hard to get rid off. Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Post<\/p>\n

One shelter at 46th Street was taken down, only to have the sidewalk squatters move one block north and set up shop again. Another encampment at 34th Street \u2014 where one vagrant was nabbed tapping into city utility lines for electricity \u2014 was also taken apart.<\/p>\n

That vagrant was shacking up with others on 36th Street on Tuesday \u2014 who were wreaking havoc at the local construction site by blocking truck deliveries and taking over Bella Abzug Park. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s like 10 guys f\u2014king in the ladies\u2019 room at like 8 a.m.,\u201d the construction worker said. \u201cIt is crazy what\u2019s going on in that bathroom. Some third world s\u2014t.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stubborn vagrants are refusing to abandon their filthy encampments along Manhattan\u2019s West Side, in some cases setting up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[32941,2000,57,9,56,63,65,64,103,58,82],"class_list":["post-302031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-homeless-encampments","tag-homelessness","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-nypd","tag-us-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302031","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=302031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}