![\"Homeless](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/nychomelessness-AP-1-scaled.jpg\" "\\"Hochul")
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FILE \u2013 Sanitation workers move a tent to a garbage truck at a small homeless encampment in New York on April 6, 2022. (AP Photo\/Seth Wenig, File)<\/p>\n
Gov. Kathy Hochul<\/a> on Friday came out against Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani\u2019s plan to end New York City\u2019s homeless encampment sweeps.\n<\/p>\n The governor said enforcement, including sweeps when needed, must remain part of the city\u2019s homelessness response, siding with outgoing Mayor Eric Adams.\u00a0Her position adds new pressure to Mamdani, who announced Thursday that he will halt the sweeps once he takes office, arguing the initiative has failed to connect people living on the streets with stable housing.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Hochul told amNewYork on Friday evening that the governor does not believe that \u201callowing New Yorkers to sleep on sidewalks or under bridges is a humane solution to homelessness.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe supports an approach that combines enforcement \u2013 including sweeps when needed \u2013 with connection to supportive housing and mental health and substance abuse services,\u201d said Kara Cumoletti, Hochul\u2019s Albany press secretary.<\/p>\n At a Thursday press conference, Mamdani said the sweeps have not helped unsheltered New Yorkers access \u201cthe housing that they so desperately need,\u201d and accused the city of treating homelessness as an inevitable part of urban life rather than the result of political decisions.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you are not connecting homeless New Yorkers to the housing that they so desperately need, you cannot deem anything you\u2019re doing to be a success,\u201d Mamdani said.\n<\/p>\n He added that his administration would focus on linking people to supportive or rental housing rather than continuing the multi-agency clearings, with street homelessness addressed through his proposed Department of Community Safety, which would reduce the police\u2019s leading role in these interactions.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we have seen is the treatment of homelessness as if it is a natural part of living in this city, when, in fact, it\u2019s more often a reflection of a political choice being made,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Adams says Mamdani stance would \u2018create quality-of-life nightmare\u2019 Mayor Adams, who has championed the policy since taking office in 2022,<\/a> pushed back against Mamdani\u2019s stance early Friday, warning that ending the sweeps would \u201ccreate a quality-of-life nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI won\u2019t criticize him [Mamdani] on every issue, but when a policy harms New Yorkers, I have to speak up,\u201d Adams said in a video posted to his personal account on X<\/a>, formerly Twitter.<\/p>\n \u201cShowing compassion for those sleeping on the streets is not a sweep; it is humane,\u201d the mayor went on. \u201cEnding this action will create a quality-of-life nightmare. Just look at cities that allow encampments, and you\u2019ll see the damage.\u201d<\/p>\n Adams added that throughout his nearly four years in office, he has remained \u201cadamant about cleaning those encampments\u201d and urged the incoming administration to reconsider. \u201cLabeling the abandonment as progress is a slap in the face to real progress,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just safety, and we need to call it out for the disgrace that it is.\u201d<\/p>\n Even so, advocates have backed Mamdani\u2019s stance, pointing to years of data showing the operations have long failed to connect unsheltered residents with meaningful support and have instead repeatedly displaced the same groups of people.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Adams administration\u2019s reliance on inhumane encampment sweeps, criminalization, and involuntary hospitalization as a way to address homelessness in New York City has been an embarrassment and an unmitigated failure,\u201d said Dave Giffen, executive director of Coalition for the Homeless, in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re glad to hear that the Mayor-elect Mamdani agrees with what we\u2019ve been saying for decades, that the only way to solve homelessness in New York City is to connect people with safe and affordable permanent housing. We look forward to working with his administration to make that goal a reality,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Reports show impact of homeless encampment sweeps The sweeps began in 2022 at Adams\u2019 direction as a coordinated effort by the NYPD, the Department of Sanitation, and the city\u2019s social services and homeless services agencies. Adams has long framed the initiative as a way to connect people living outdoors with services while removing makeshift encampments.<\/p>\n Advocates have long argued that the operations traumatize people<\/a> experiencing homelessness, often involving forced removal and the loss of personal belongings.<\/a><\/p>\n A 2023 audit by Comptroller Brad Lander<\/a> found that more than 2,300 people were cleared from encampments during the first year of the initiative; however, only three were placed into permanent housing, prompting Lander to call for the \u201csweeping failure\u201d to end.\u00a0<\/p>\n More recent data show the pattern has continued.\u00a0Records reviewed by\u00a0THE CITY<\/a> show that since 2024, the city has spent more than $6.4 million clearing 4,148 sites, noting that not one person was placed into permanent housing through vouchers, direct placements, or supportive housing.\u00a0In May, Gothamist reported<\/a> that of the roughly 3,500 people displaced from encampments, only 114 ultimately entered shelters.<\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/DSC00414-copy-2-copy.jpg\" "\\"Hochul")
Eric Adams points to a homeless encampment filled with needles during a March 2022 press conferencePhoto by Dean Moses<\/p>\n
\n![\"Homeless](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/DSC07148-copy-scaled.jpg\" "\\"Hochul")
Homeless individuals attempted to salvage their tent during a encampment sweep in Manhattan, Dec, 2022.Photo by Dean Moses<\/p>\n