The Mayor Promises a New Approach to Encampment ‘Sweeps.’ Homeless Advocates Don’t Buy It. – City Limits

Last month, Mamdani put the agency in charge of encampment “sweeps,” or when city workers force unhoused New Yorkers and their belongings from sidewalks and other public spaces. It was a shift from his predecessor, former Mayor Eric Adams, who let the police department lead on the cleanups—an approach Mamdani criticized as a failure, since very few people the city moved actually entered the shelter system, and even fewer got housing. 

The new administration, though, is promising something different.

“I personally don’t think of these as cleanings or sweeps or moves, but as focused housing efforts,” Dalton told the City Council on Tuesday, during a hearing about the city’s homeless services budget. Outreach workers, she added, will be “pursuing relentless engagement.”

That echoes the strategy her new boss has laid out. Mamdani says city workers will visit encampments daily for a week before forcing anyone to move, an effort to gain trust with street homeless New Yorkers who are often wary of entering city shelters, where rules and conditions can be harsh. 

“Mayor Mamdani made clear from the outset that the policies of the past were a failure. His administration is focused on connecting New Yorkers to shelter and establishing a pipeline to stable housing, not just moving people from block to block without support,” a City Hall spokesperson told City Limits in a statement. 

But homeless New Yorkers and advocates aren’t convinced, saying they’ve heard similar promises under prior mayors. They’re calling for the city to end sweeps altogether, saying the practice only harasses unhoused people, shuffling them around and often resulting in the loss of their already limited possessions. 

“Mamdani has said he wants to start sweeps differently, but we know that there’s no such thing as good sweets or new sweeps,” Marcus Moore, an organizer with the Safety Net Activists, said at a rally outside City Hall on Wednesday. 

He and other advocates say the city has issued more than 100 cleanup notices over the last few weeks to unsheltered people staying outdoors. Administration officials told the City Council this week that outreach teams have cleared 40 locations since January, and referred 85 people to the shelter system, though did not specify how many of those actually came inside. 

Maria and Ernesto Moreno live in a tent on Second Avenue and 20th Street in Manhattan. They said they braved the cold spell there this winter, and that city workers swept the block shortly after.

“We had a lot of personal stuff and they got rid of everything. We came back one day and everything was just gone,” said Maria Moreno.

Maria is an amputee and relies on Ernesto for a lot of her care. They said they’re married but don’t have their marriage paperwork, and so have been unable to get a joint placement in a city shelter as a result.

“People think it’s so easy for us and specifically it’s not so easy. They can place us separately, but probably not even in the same building,” Maria Moreno said. She said they had interacted with DHS staff on the block before, but not immediately prior to the recent sweep. 

“I understand when a block is super messy and dirty and stuff,” said Maria Moreno. “But just throwing everything away doesn’t help.”

City officials say outreach workers are supposed to take inventory of a person’s belongings during a sweep, and store anything they can’t take with them into a shelter. 

“I think the issue of people’s belongings is a really important one,” Dalton told lawmakers during Tuesday’s Council hearing. The new commissioner, who took DSS’ helm in late February, said she’s still familiarizing herself with the agency’s current practices, but that she has a set of “non-negotiables” when it comes to homeless outreach. 

“For me, it’s really important to try to offer people what they want,” Dalton said. 

“While I agree there are always some people, a very small number, who will never come inside and some who won’t come inside on that day—if we can meet their needs, if we can make sure that their belongings are kept if they can’t take them with them to the next location, and if we do treat people with dignity and respect in that process, I think a lot of folks will accept those offers,” she added. 

The Mamdani administration says it’s investing in more appealing shelter options, like Safe Havens—which usually offer greater privacy and fewer restrictions than traditional shelters—having opened 106 new Safe Haven beds in lower Manhattan last month. 

Homeless advocates say more is needed, and that the resources the city spends on sweeps could be better used on improving current shelter conditions and creating more paths to permanent housing. 

They’re pressing the mayor to expand eligibility for the city’s main rental assistance program, CityFHEPS, by finally implementing a package of City Council bills that would raise the income threshold and make it easier for people facing eviction to apply. While running for office, Mamdani pledged to carry out the Council’s expansion laws—something Eric Adams refused to do, citing ballooning CityFHEPS spending. 

But Mayor Mandani backtracked on that last month, for similar reasons as his predecessor: the city comptroller’s office estimated that implementing the Council’s expansion would increase the budget deficit by $6 to $20 billion in the next five years. Mamdani is now pursuing a settlement with the Council over the bills. 

The reversal was a disappointment to homeless advocates, as was the mayor’s decision to continue encampment sweeps—both of which activists say he should change course on. 

“You made a promise, you made a commitment, and we’re going to see to it that you hold on to it,” said Marquis Jenkins, director of advocacy with Housing Works. 

To reach the reporter behind this story, contact [email protected]. To reach the editor, contact [email protected]

Want to republish this story? Find City Limits’ reprint policy here.