New York City Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani changed his mind on whether his administration would sweep homeless encampments — but only after 20 homeless people died amid winter weather.
In the past year, New York City Democratic Mayor Eric Adams asked the New York Police Department to sweep camps where homeless people congregate.
Mamdani paused the practice on Jan. 5, days after he assumed office, but announced Wednesday he would resume the policy, according to a report from AMNY.
“I made a decision with my team to put a pause on that prior administration’s policy as we started to develop our own policy that would deliver far better outcomes for the city,” Mamdani told reporters.
Amid the recent cold snap, Mamdani declared a Code Blue, which requires city shelters to accept anyone desiring refuge from the cold.
At least 20 homeless people died during the bout of frigid temperatures.
“We knew that that is a policy that we would only deliver on once the prolonged Code Blue came to an end, because, as we know, in a Code Blue, the focus should be on getting homeless New Yorkers inside, not on the question of how we respond to structures,” Mamdani added.
🚨 BREAKING: Ugandan Mayor Zohran Mamdani BREAKS MAJOR campaign promise of ending homeless encampment sweeps
He’s now REINSTATING homeless camp sweeps, infuriating leftist voters
How many campaign promises is this guy going to break?! You got duped by a COMMUNIST, NYC! pic.twitter.com/LbRoyUyRfu
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) February 18, 2026
But instead of the NYPD running the sweeps, the program will now be led by the Department of Homeless Services.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist, has broadly shifted some government operations — like mental health outreach and homeless outreach — to agencies outside of the NYPD.
Mamdani had also said on the campaign trail that homeless encampment sweeps were unhelpful.
“If you are not connecting homeless New Yorkers to the housing that they so desperately need, then you cannot deem anything you’re doing to be a success,” he remarked while campaigning to run the Big Apple, per AMNY.
The New York Post reported that the city government has already received over 3,300 complaints about homeless encampments since the start of this year alone.
Mamdani’s administration is adding 60 more people to help get homeless people off the streets under his new budget.
“When Mayor Mamdani took office, he paused the failed encampment sweep policies of the past, making clear that the city would no longer rely on approaches that simply moved people from block to block without real support,” City Hall representative Matt Rauschenbach said.
“The goal is to maximize placements into shelter and connect unhoused New Yorkers to the services they need so that when DSNY clears an encampment on day seven, meaningful progress has already been made,” he added.
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