{"id":354897,"date":"2026-09-23T19:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T19:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/354897\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T19:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T19:18:10","slug":"nyc-clears-homeless-encampment-next-to-nyu-dorms-so-vagrants-set-up-new-camp-100-yards-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/354897\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC clears homeless encampment next to NYU dorms — so vagrants set up new camp 100 yards away"},"content":{"rendered":"

City workers took down a gritty homeless encampment near NYU dorms \u2014 only to have it move down the street, as one vagrant griped, \u201cI thought Mamdani was supposed to be supportive of the homeless?\u201d<\/p>\n

NYPD cops and sanitation workers showed up at the East Ninth Street shantytown around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, telling the three sidewalk squatters inside they had to pack up and move \u2014 which they did, setting up a new shelter just 100 yards away. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey just made up some new bulls\u2013t! They\u2019re supposed to give us notice,\u201d one vagrant whined. \u201cThey just showed up and said, \u2019emergency cleanup.\u2019 They gave us 10 minutes to move our stuff. This is total bulls\u2013t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanitation workers clear up a homeless encampment outside NYU dorms Wednesday while an NYPD cop looks on. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n

The Post exposed the 30-foot shelter on Monday<\/a>, which took up much of the sidewalk across from the university dorm building at East Ninth Street and Third Avenue \u2014 the latest shantytown to pop up in the Big Apple thanks to Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s hands-off approach to the homeless crisis.<\/p>\n

Mamdani\u2019s policy called for cops to be prohibited from clearing the unsightly encampments for at least a week to give city outreach workers to sweet talk vagrants and offer them services.<\/p>\n

The controversial policy got lax this week, when the administration said it was not banning the NYPD from responding to 311 complaints<\/a> on the camps \u2014 instead telling cops to call 311 themselves if they spotted one of the filthy sidewalk shelters. <\/p>\n

Instead, overworked and understaffed homeless services and social services staffers bear the burden.<\/p>\n

One vagrant moaned that they had been given no notice prior to being kicked off the encampment. Steven Hirsch for NY Post<\/p>\n

Police respond to a homeless encampment occupied by three people outside NYU dorms in Manhattan. Kevin C. Downs for NY Post<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the occupants of the Ninth Avenue camp grabbed their stuff, moved north to the south-facing corner \u2014 then locked their carts and luggage to a railing and started over again.<\/p>\n

A city worker was even kind enough to ask if they wanted to grab any more of their gear, then left.<\/p>\n

Mark Zafrin, a lifelong New Yorker and lawyer who lives in the neighborhood, said he was worried about City Hall\u2019s latest move to handcuff cops even further. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s going to get somebody hurt,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t have the police here, somebody is going to be stoned, crazed and is going to go after the outreach worker, and somebody is going to get seriously hurt.<\/p>\n

Sanitation workers clear up a homeless encampment at East Ninth Street and Third Avenue on Wednesday. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can they change anything without the police there backing the up?\u201d Zafrin said. \u201cWithout the threat or intimidation of the police there, nothing is going to change. They\u2019re going to remain exactly where they are and they\u2019re going to do what they want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another local who identified himself as Dillian said he was concerned the new homestead of the NYU dorm vagrants would spark trouble with food delivery workers who have \u201ctaken over\u201d Abe Lebewohl Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be noisy tonight,\u201d he said. \u201cLot of fights tonight. \u201cThey\u2019re going to move up the street tonight and it\u2019s going to be on. There\u2019s a bunch of guys who live up in that park right there. The delivery guys. You know, the guys with the scooters delivering food and stuff. They\u2019ve taken over the park and live there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"City workers took down a gritty homeless encampment near NYU dorms \u2014 only to have it move down…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[7624,32941,2000,57,9,56,63,65,64,103,22460,58,82],"class_list":["post-354897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-east-village","tag-homeless-encampments","tag-homelessness","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-nypd","tag-nyu","tag-us-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354897","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=354897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}