Temperatures in New York Metropolis have persistently dropped under freezing since late January, leaving Mayor Zohran Mamdani scrambling to get town’s most weak New Yorkers off the streets and subways, amid criticism of how his administration is reacting to the temperature plunge.
There was a bitter chilly entrance within the metropolis with freezing temperatures and wind chills for the previous couple of weeks, reaching as little as 3 levels in some locations. Town’s homeless inhabitants, which is disproportionately made up of Black and Latino New Yorkers, in addition to individuals dwelling with a psychological sickness or different extreme well being issues, has confronted a critical risk as the tough climate has made it much more harmful to be outdoors.
At the very least 18 have died as of February 10. In line with the mayor’s workplace, 13 of them misplaced their lives because of hypothermia, three of them died because of overdose, and the reason for one demise continues to be to be decided. An extra individual was discovered lifeless outside within the Bronx over this previous weekend. (Observe: It was not explicitly said that every one who died have been homeless people.)
“I believe because the mayor, I’m answerable for metropolis actions throughout the 5 boroughs, and I believe that I’ve to be clear about that, as a result of I believe for much too lengthy, New Yorkers have been advised to solid blame in other places, and I’m the mayor,” stated Mamdani when requested at a climate briefing on the metropolis’s Emergency Administration Division constructing in Brooklyn on February 6, 2026, if he feels answerable for the weather-related deaths.
“When a New Yorker has a critique about the way in which that town has been working or the way in which town has been responding, it’s my job to listen to them,” he continued. “I’m fortunate to be surrounded not solely by an unimaginable crew at the moment, however frankly, each day, in guaranteeing that we might be one of the best that we might be. However there’s at all times extra to be accomplished.”
To reply mounting considerations for the unsheltered and unhoused, Mamdani’s crew doubled efforts to develop on-the-ground outreach and communications groups, cell warming buses and facilities, and new shelter areas. Final week, town opened 64 new resort shelter items in Queens, 48 new secure haven beds within the Bronx, and practically 65 warming facilities in faculties and hospitals citywide.
“Extra lives are at stake, and the Metropolis should act with the urgency this second calls for,” stated the Authorized Help Society and the Coalition for the Homeless in a joint assertion concerning the subzero temperatures.
The outreach program engaged a whole bunch of homeless New Yorkers with medical consultations and important provides, similar to blankets, heat clothes, socks, heat meals, and water, stated town. They launched an consciousness marketing campaign in partnership with LinkNYC to attraction immediately for individuals to return indoors or at the least find the closest warming heart. In addition they collaborated with 311 to cut back the period of time it might take for a homeless particular person to get assist.
Mamdani stated it was an “all-hands-on-deck operation,” deploying educated college nurses, Division of Homeless Providers (DHS) workers, previously homeless New Yorkers, disaster administration groups, neighborhood-based violence interrupters, and enterprise enchancment districts to assist avenue outreach groups.
“When outreach staff method a homeless New Yorker, oftentimes what they’ll discover is {that a} homeless New Yorker’s response to the supply of shelter is knowledgeable by their experiences prior to now, their experiences within the shelter system, their experiences with metropolis companies,” stated Mamdani. “Once you conduct outreach with a peer, it has been proven to be more practical at instances in making that case, as a result of it’s really another person who has lived via the identical form of experiences.”
Since January 19, town has made greater than 1,300 shelter placements and transported 29 homeless people involuntarily, in line with town.
Deborah Berkman, director of New York Authorized Help Group (NYLAG)’s Shelter and Financial Stability Venture, stated she’s thrilled to listen to concerning the placements. Nevertheless, she has loads of shoppers who’re former army, previously incarcerated, or individuals with trauma which are dwelling outdoors due to systemic points and obstacles to shelter. In her expertise, the Division of Social Providers (DSS) doesn’t present nearly all of single adults with the privateness, security, and toilet lodging they want in cramped congregate shelters.
“Lots of people reside outdoors for excellent causes — as a result of they’re appropriately traumatized by issues which have occurred to them and don’t need them to occur once more,” she stated. “Residing outdoors is an expression of deep poverty, not essentially psychological sickness.”
In the mean time, town is utilizing the identical “controversial” involuntary removing insurance policies established beneath former Mayor Eric Adams. The coverage is that clinicians, subway staff, or the NYPD could make a dedication about whether or not an individual is a hazard to themselves or to others, after which transport them to a hospital. Adams had efficiently pushed for increasing involuntary commitments on the state stage, decreasing the bar for town to take away somebody for a psychological well being analysis as properly. Amongst progressives and psychological well being advocates, similar to Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, these legal guidelines weren’t in style.
With the current chilly entrance demise toll, the dialog about homeless encampment and subway sweeps has additionally taken heart stage once more. Mamdani has resisted reinstating the apply thus far. Adams believed that the sweeps could be an efficient measure to maintain individuals secure, whereas others slammed them as “inhumane.”
“We’re towards sweeps as a result of we don’t suppose that they’re useful to individuals experiencing homelessness. They’re costly and futile,” stated Berkman. “If the objective of the sweep is to attempt to carry individuals experiencing homelessness outdoors inside, [then] sweeps virtually by no means accomplish that objective and there’s a variety of revealed information about it.”
Others have provided that the “humane method” to clearing a homeless encampment could possibly be an answer. This implies making a documented listing of the place camps are throughout town, coordinating intra-agency outreach groups supported by housing and healthcare specialists to interrupt down a camp one individual at a time with their consent; after which offering transitional care after a hospital keep.
On February 10, Mamdani agreed to make low-barrier housing placement extra accessible by revoking a mattress allocation rule established in 2025. Adams had created this rule to require homeless people to have six months of documented historical past of both trying to enter congregate shelter or dwelling on the road to get placement.
