City Hall is benching the NYPD.<\/p>\n
Mayor Zohran Mamdani is barring New York\u2019s Finest from responding to any 311 complaints about the Big Apple\u2019s homeless encampment mess, putting the entire burden on an understaffed and overworked Department of Social Services, sources close to the issue told The Post. <\/p>\n
The move means cops have to sit on their hands until getting the green light \u2014 if they ever do.<\/p>\n
Police arrest a homeless man at an encampment on Second Ave. and St. Marks Place in the East Village in New York on Wednesday, August 26, 2026. His belongings were left on the street. Helayne Seidman for NY Post<\/p>\n
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, city officials, and labor activists announce a $131.5 million settlement with the DoorDash app to compensate delivery workers, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026. William Farrington for The NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is just crazy,\u201d one source said. \u201c[Cops] can\u2019t help. They just have to wait for DSS \u2026 DSS doesn\u2019t have the staff to investigate this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The decree from City Hall would expand the mayor\u2019s already controversial approach to the filthy shantytowns that have popped up throughout the city in recent years, which prohibited the NYPD from clearing out the encampments for at least seven days while outreach workers sweet-talked vagrants.<\/p>\n
Police officers were nonetheless responding to 311 complaints, even if they were handcuffed for a week \u2014 until an email to all NYPD ops on Tuesday that they would no longer respond to those calls, sources said.<\/p>\n
According to the email, police officers who spot an encampment are now directed to call 311 themselves, then DSS and city Department of Homeless Services staffers take over, the sources said.<\/p>\n
NYPD officers remove power strips and make homeless encampments near Hudson yards and the Javitz Center unplug from light poles in New York on Tuesday, July 14, 2026. Lone Pine Press for NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a gray area,\u201d one source said. <\/p>\n
Administration officials confirmed the shift. <\/p>\n
\u201cDHS outreach teams, not NYPD officers, will assess the reported location of the encampment and offer shelter and support to any individuals encountered in the area,\u201d said a DSS spokesperson. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn conjunction with this with this process change, we are updating DHS tracking systems to improve our ability to monitor encampments\u00a0and improving geocoding and tracking so we are able to more efficiently respond to encampment conditions across the city.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NYPD will still be involved with sweeps when they happen, according to officials<\/p>\n
Mamdani announced his intention to deal with the homeless crisis with kid gloves<\/a> in late 2025, shortly before taking office \u2014 a radically different approach than that of his predecessor.<\/p>\n Police respond to a homeless encampment occupied by three people on E9 Street and Stuyvesant St. in Manhattan, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026. Officers checked on the occupants following complaints and asked them to reduce the size of the encampment. Kevin C. Downs for NY Post<\/p>\n Former Mayor Eric Adams made clearing out tent cities a top priority after taking office in 2022.<\/p>\n \u201cWe cannot tolerate these makeshift, unsafe houses on the side of highways,\u00a0in trees<\/a>, in front of schools, in parks. This is just not acceptable, and it\u2019s something I\u2019m just not going to allow to happen,\u201d\u00a0Adams railed in March of 2022<\/a> when he kicked off a harder line initiative to deal with the homeless.<\/p>\n In stark contrast, Mamdani took a hands-off approach to homeless shelters and encampments, even as the body count of vagrants claimed by harsh winter<\/a> conditions mounted.<\/p>\n Unsightly homeless encampments have dotted the city over the past year, including a blocks-long shantytown near the Intrepid Museum<\/a> on Manhattan\u2019s West Side that went unchecked until The Post blew the whistle \u2014 with the city finally moving in to try to clear it out.<\/p>\n A man and woman remove some of their belongings as the NYC Department of Sanitation and NYPD respond to a large homeless encampment under the FDR Drive by 23 St. in New York, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n A filthy encampment also turned a stretch of the East Side under the FDR<\/a> Drive into a trash heap, while an outdoor flophouse has overtaken the sidewalk<\/a> in trendy Greenwich Village.<\/p>\n