{"id":304246,"date":"2026-07-23T22:55:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T22:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/304246\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T22:55:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T22:55:08","slug":"mamdanis-nyc-homeless-camp-crackdown-falters-as-meth-addicted-trans-vagrant-rails-against-shelter-lockdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/304246\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani’s NYC homeless camp crackdown falters as meth-addicted trans vagrant rails against shelter ‘lockdown’"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s too little, too late.<\/p>\n

Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s 11th-hour decision to finally tackle unsightly homeless encampments near the Intrepid Museum is doing little to get the vagrants off the street \u2014 and out of sight.<\/p>\n

Some sidewalk squatters in the West Side shantytown are even taking down their own tents and shelters before the NYPD shows up, setting up camp elsewhere or going it alone while shunning outreach workers <\/a>dispatched as part of Mamdani\u2019s \u201cmore humane\u201d approach to the homeless crisis. <\/p>\n

Jennifer, 42, a trans crystal meth addict, would rather live on the streets than be placed in a shelter. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel safer in the shelter but in the street I have more freedom,\u201d Jennifer, a 42-year-old trans crystal meth addict whose been sleeping at Bella Abzug Park, told The Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have no rules and regulations out here,\u201d she said. \u201cIn a shelter it\u2019s different. You have a lockdown and you have to be in by 9. Who the f\u2013k wants to be in at 9?\u201d<\/p>\n

The filthy encampments<\/a>, which dotted the sidewalks from roughly the floating Intrepid Museum to the Jacob K. Javits Center, have raised concerns from locals and tourists for weeks, but Mamdani\u2019s homeless policy barred the NYPD from taking them down under the lefty mayor\u2019s guidelines.<\/p>\n

Mamdani\u2019s rules kept cops in check until homeless services<\/a> and outreach workers could be dispatched to counsel the homeless intruders for seven days \u2014 and only then could the encampments be taken down.<\/p>\n

City Hall finally gave the order to clean up homeless encampments, but many migrants are just relocating. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n

A homeless encampment blocks the sidewalk at West 44th Street and 12th Avenue in Manhattan. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n

That didn\u2019t happen until this week, when police and sanitation workers started dismantling some of the encampments, only to see the vagrants pack up and go down the block, in some cases taking it on themselves to scoot before police showed up.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, two NYPD officers stood by as a sanitation crew loaded foam padding and used syringes at one encampment at 34th Street and 11th Avenue, part of the city\u2019s sweep. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is our third one today,\u201d one cop said. \u201cIt\u2019s what it is. We are trying. We are doing the best we can.\u201d <\/p>\n

Encampments that were on 47th and 12th and 49th and 12th have also disappeared, but the gritty occupants that once called them home have since set up shop farther south on 44th Street.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re enjoying a different spot,\u201d a frustrated food vender near the Intrepid told The Post. \u201cNobody f\u2013king moved s\u2013t. They moved by themselves. The city is a f\u2013king bitch. Nobody can do nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

New York City Department of Homeless Services workers post notice at West 33rd Street and 11th Avenue. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n

Homeless encampments have popped up throughout the Big Apple under Mayor Mamdani\u2019s \u201cmore humane\u201d policy. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, another encampment popped up farther down on West 24th Street and Sixth Avenue, where a small group blasted hip hop on a speaker while a young woman appeared passed out on the ground.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no way to quantify how many encampments exist in the city at a given time beyond 311, which would only note shelters that generated complaints.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s seven-day process also does not keep tabs on vagrants who turn down services or shelter beds.<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Xavier Serrano and Fenix Suriel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s too little, too late. Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s 11th-hour decision to finally tackle unsightly homeless encampments near the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[8991,32941,2000,35138,57,9,56,63,65,64,103,58,82],"class_list":["post-304246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-department-of-sanitation","tag-homeless-encampments","tag-homelessness","tag-intrepid-museum","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\/304246","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=304246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}