Another day, another reversal by Mayor Mamdani. This one was yesterday, “Day 48 of a new era,” when he backed down on his rash and dangerous policy from Jan. 5 (Day 5 of the new era) to stop all sweeps of homeless encampments in the aftermath of a cold snap that froze to death 20 people.
We are glad that he did a backflip on this, lives are at risk.
Mamdani claimed that this supposed pause was done so that his administration could develop its own policies around these sweeps, but it happened to come at the worst possible time, during some of the coldest temperatures in the city’s recorded history.
That sounds too convenient, as there were no such explanations when the sweeps were ended and outrage ensued from these columns and elsewhere (and that was before the Jan. 25 blizzard dumped a foot of snow on the city and plunging temperatures followed for weeks).
Under the new policy, squatters will not get a single warning and then a removal seven days later. Instead, there will be six days of warnings in between. If that makes any of these illegal homesteaders pack up and accept a shelter placement great, but the encampments will still be gone.
These folks need more than housing. They need help for mental health ailments or substance abuse and the city must be prepared to contend with those issues and provide them services and housing, unless we want to do it all again in two weeks’ time.
This is primarily not a housing program, but a program of removal from public places of illegal settlements. You can’t booze and do illegal drugs in the shelters and can’t set up camp in a park or on the sidewalk. Rules are rules.
Hopefully the added six days of interactions will persuade more to accept shelter, but on day seven the encampment must come down.
And it’s fine for the Department of Homeless Services to be the lead agency, but the NYPD must still be there to provide support and security.
Mamdani must accept that it is dangerous and undignified for people to live outside, where they’re at the mercy of the elements, vermin, exposed to higher likelihoods of theft and assault and often in a hostile posture with the surrounding community.
There should never be encampments in a city that itself has a right to shelter, and which should be committed to offering people a helping hand as opposed to leaving them to suffer before our eyes.
The policy of clearing such encampments has been adopted by mayors for many years, including by Mamdani’s spiritual predecessor Bill de Blasio. That doesn’t mean things have always been done right; reports that police and sanitation workers have in some circumstances simply discarded or destroyed inhabitants’ belongings without giving them the ability to pack up are shameful. Some litigation now has blocked that practice, and officials with Sanitation, DHS and the NYPD should be careful to not compound the issue by treating encampment-dwellers with respect.
Our objective here should not be to punish people who through whatever circumstance have ended up on the street, but to help ensure that both they and their surrounding communities are safe and that public space is not being taken over.
