When Campaign Pledges Collapse, Unhoused New Yorkers Pay the Price
Zohran Mamdani promised New Yorkers he would end homeless encampment sweeps during his campaign for mayor. As a formerly unhoused New Yorker, I wanted to believe him — enough to vote for him in both the primary and the general election. But within weeks of taking office, his administration signaled that sweeps would continue.
It’s hard not to wonder whether the promise was ever meant to hold. Mamdani said he and his team “put a pause” on the prior administration’s approach while developing a new policy they believe will “generate far better outcomes.” He also suggested the city needed to get through the recent blizzard before rolling out changes. But if sweeps remain on the table, the question isn’t whether the process looks different — it’s whether the harm does.
Broken Promises on Housing and Homelessness
In a short span of time, the administration has walked back or softened key commitments that directly affect poor and unhoused New Yorkers. That includes retreating from promises related to CityFHEPS — the rental subsidy program meant to help people avoid eviction — and now, signaling a return to encampment sweeps.
“Like Mayor Mamdani’s pledge to expand CityFHEPS, his pledge to discontinue homeless sweeps is another broken promise,” said the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless in a joint statement.
Pressure Builds and Sweeps Return
On Tuesday, Feb. 17, Mamdani announced the city would resume encampment sweeps. The timing matters as the announcement followed one of the harshest and longest cold snaps in New York City history, which killed 20 New Yorkers. As expected, Mamdani’s administration was met with criticism, blaming the lack of sweeps as the cause of death. Yet, none of the reported deaths occurred inside encampments, and many were not homeless at all. But it was at this moment that Mamdani broke under pressure, and he quickly announced the return of homeless encampment sweeps.
The political pressure was always predictable. Former Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul have both framed enforcement as “humane,” arguing the city can’t allow encampments to exist in public spaces.
“The governor does not believe that allowing New Yorkers to sleep on sidewalks or under bridges is a humane solution to homelessness,” a spokesperson for Governor Hochul said in December.
Adams shared a similar view, claiming that “enforcement” is the “humane solution”. He said the city of New York can’t allow homeless encampments to “take over” the city. Still, Mamdani held firm in his stance on homeless sweeps — until now.
There Is No ‘Better’ Sweep
Mamdani insists this time will be different — different agency, different approach, better outcomes.
Mamdani said the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) will lead homeless encampment sweeps, and not the NYPD. He also shared that staff will make daily visits to encampments for a week before conducting the sweep, in an effort to build trust and convince those who are wary to enter the city’s shelter system. But changing which department leads a sweep doesn’t change what a sweep is: displacement, destabilization, and loss.
“There’s no new version of sweeps or a better version of sweeps,” said Marcus Moore, who is an organizer with Safety Net Activists. “Sweeps do not help anybody.”
As someone who experienced street homelessness before the pandemic, Moore added, “That’s the same talk and philosophy that I’d been hearing when I was actually out there. Same script, different time, different year.”
Why People Avoid Shelter
There is a reason why many homeless people avoid the city’s shelter system. Safety and poor conditions are concerns often cited by homeless New Yorkers. Sometimes it’s violence, drug use, or a variety of different reasons that make folks feel like it’s safer to be outside than inside a shelter. One of many city shelters I have stayed in, Park View, across from the Harlem Meer, had a long history of all of these things. Toilets constantly clogged and overflowing. Mice and roaches. Violence, including drug violence.
When the streets feel safer than the shelters, sweeps don’t “connect” people to services. They push people into more dangerous situations, farther from outreach workers and stability, and often without the basic gear needed to survive.
Sweeps Destabilize, and Winter Makes them Deadlier
This winter has been brutal. And even in moderate weather, exposure can be deadly when people are wet, exhausted, sick, or without protection. That’s what makes sweeps so dangerous: they remove the thin layer of stability people have built to stay alive.
When an encampment is cleared, people often lose what they can’t carry — tents, tarps, blankets, sleeping bags, heaters, medications, IDs, documents. Taking those items doesn’t solve homelessness. It increases risk.
Yes, people should call 311 if someone outside appears in distress or at risk. But the response should prioritize safety and support, not displacement, punishment, or the confiscation of survival gear.
Budget Pressures and Who Pays
The Mamdani administration is also struggling to balance its first budget. This is why the CityFHEPS was tossed out. It’s also why Mamdani is threatening to raise New York City property taxes by almost 10% if Governor Hochul doesn’t raise taxes on the rich.
Mamdani and Hochul have clashed publicly over revenue and responsibility.
“There are two paths to bridge this gap. The first is the most sustainable and the fairest path,” Mamdani announced during his preliminary budget proposal presentation, referring to his preferred option of raising taxes of New York’s wealthiest citizens. He calls raising property taxes for all New York City homeowners the “last resort”.
Regardless of which line items move, the moral test is simple: will this administration protect people living on the edge, or will it manage public perception by moving them out of sight?
Even floating enforcement-forward responses and retreating from key homelessness commitments sends a message: campaign values are negotiable when the pressure rises. Unhoused New Yorkers don’t have the luxury of waiting for politics to stabilize.
New Yorkers should hold Mayor Mamdani accountable — not with outrage for its own sake, but with clarity about what saves lives. Ending sweeps means ending displacement as policy. It means investing in housing, in dignified services, and in shelter conditions that people can actually accept. Our unhoused neighbors deserve better than a “new” version of the same harm.