At least 16 people have died outdoors in New York City after a winter storm and days of subfreezing temperatures, intensifying scrutiny of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s (D.) handling of the cold snap and his decision to halt the removal of homeless encampments.
The death toll climbed to 16, Mamdani announced Monday, and hypothermia played a role in at least 13 of the deaths. Fourteen New Yorkers died from Hurricane Ida in 2021.
Mamdani announced in December that he would drop former mayor Eric Adams’s policy of clearing homeless encampments and encouraging people to go to shelters, saying that displacement was ineffective. Critics argue the reversal left the homeless vulnerable when temperatures plunged.
Adams said he pleaded with Mamdani not to abandon the city’s established policy. "I begged him not to reverse our policy that kept homeless New Yorkers from freezing outdoors in makeshift encampments," Adams wrote Thursday on X. "He didn’t listen."
"Reinstate the policy now. Every day of delay risks more lives," the former mayor said.
Mamdani on Monday, though, said that "It does not appear there's any relationship between encampments and what we've seen with these 16 New Yorkers."
The mayor also took heat from Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.). "So much for the ‘warmth of collectivism,’" Stefanik said. "The cold hard truths of Socialism have arrived in NYC. People are literally dying on the streets in the cold because of inexperience, ineptitude, and a dehumanizing radical ideology."
"We have been taking every possible measure to get New Yorkers inside," Mamdani said Saturday. "This has been a full, all-hands-on-deck approach." He noted that the city had ramped up efforts to protect homeless New Yorkers, including offering overtime pay to outreach workers and sending buses throughout the city for warmth. The mayor’s spokeswoman, Dora Pekec, said last week that the city had moved people off the streets and into shelters over 800 times since Jan. 19.
Before the storm, Adams had a stark warning for Mamdani. "There is nothing ‘progressive’ about leaving people to freeze in makeshift encampments. It harms residents and dehumanizes the very people who need help," Adams said in December. "Showing compassion for those sleeping on the streets is not a sweep. It is humane. Ending this action will create a quality of life nightmare."
"Throughout the last close to four years, I was adamant about cleaning those encampments because we cannot tolerate a city that turns a blind eye to human suffering," he continued. "Let’s call it what it is: Labeling the abandonment of our homeless neighbors as ‘progress’ is a slap in the face to real progress."
