Mamdani's Approach to Homeless Sweeps, And What Else Happened in Housing This Week

"For the second straight week, Mayor Zohran Mamdani is under fire from advocates who accuse him of changing course on homelessness policies. The mayor announced Wednesday that the city would resume homeless encampment clean ups, known as "sweeps," a practice he'd previously vowed to stop. He paused the practice in January, saying he wanted to develop his own approach to street homelessness."

"Mamdani said that the key difference between how his administration will handle public encampments and Mayor Eric Adams' approach-which he called a "failure"-is an emphasis on engaging street homeless individuals to direct them to services and housing. He said that the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) would take the lead, not the Police Department (NYPD), and that outreach staff will make daily visits to encampments for a week before removing anyone, an effort to build trust and convince those who are wary of the shelter system to come indoors."

"But advocates for the homeless condemned reintroducing sweeps at all, saying the approach only terrorizes street homeless people rather than helps them. "There's no new version of sweeps or a better version of sweeps," said Marcus Moore, who was street homeless prior to the pandemic and is now an organizer with Safety Net Activists. "Sweeps does not help anybody.""

The city will resume homeless encampment cleanups, a practice paused in January when a new approach was being developed. The administration plans to emphasize daily DHS-led outreach for a week before any removal, aiming to build trust and steer street homeless individuals toward services and housing. The mayor framed the new approach as different from the previous administration by shifting responsibility from the NYPD to the Department of Homeless Services. Homeless advocates condemned the return of sweeps as inhumane and ineffective, and the policy shift follows a separate decision to delay expansion of the CityFHEPS voucher program due to budget concerns.

Read at City Limits