Mayor-Elect Mamdani, Adams Trade Barbs On Ending Homeless Encampment Sweeps

NEW YORK CITY — Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has said he plans to stop clearing homeless encampments citywide once he takes office in January.

Mamdani made the comments to reporters on Thursday. The homeless encampment sweeps were an initiative under current mayor Eric Adams beginning in 2022. It aimed to connect homeless people with permeant housing.

“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,” Mamdani said of the policy.

"We are going to take an approach that understands its mission is connecting those New Yorkers to housing,” he added.

An audit by City Comptroller Brad Lander found that the initiative was not successful — close to 95 percent of homeless people were back on the streets shortly after the encampment sweeps

City Hall has previously disputed those claims, arguing that the city continues to "have the lowest rate of unsheltered homelessness of any major city in the nation," in a statement to the New York Post.

Mamdani or his team have not disclosed specifics on how they would deal with encampment sweeps.

"There is nothing “progressive” about leaving people to freeze in makeshift encampments. It harms residents and dehumanizes the very people who need help," Adams wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter) after Mamdani made his comments on Thursday.

"New Yorkers should call on Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani to reconsider this policy."

Ex-NYPD Chief of Department John Chell also criticized Mamdani on his policy choice in a social media post.

“Under current law, you generally cannot force individuals into shelter—and the majority refuse services,” Chell wrote. “Outreach does not automatically mean acceptance. Ending street intervention programs before building sufficient housing, shelter, and treatment capacity is not a plan—it’s a gamble,” he said on social media.