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How often does NYC sweep homeless encampments? Mayor's answer is past due.
By
Karen Yi
Published Jun 26, 2024
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Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images
By
Karen Yi
Published Jun 26, 2024
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The Adams administration says it‘s still working to compile an overdue report detailing how often New York City officials clear homeless people from public spaces — and what it costs taxpayers.
The quarterly report, which was due last month, is required under new legislation passed by the City Council earlier this year that aims to track the frequency and effectiveness of the mayor’s homeless encampment sweeps and other removals. Many homeless advocates say the sweeps are cruel and fail to get people permanently off the streets.
Under the measure, the city is required to disclose the agencies involved in any removal of a homeless person, how often a sweep happens in a particular location, the cost and what kinds of services and housing support were offered to the unsheltered people.
“This administration is always dedicated to following the law and we intend to be fully compliant with this new legislation,” mayoral spokesperson Kayla Mamelak said in a statement. “This requires an unprecedented and comprehensive compilation of data, and our teams are working diligently to gather all necessary information and produce the report as quickly as possible.”
Sweeps of homeless encampments, such as tents or cardboard boxes, are not a new practice in the city. But Mayor Eric Adams made them a priority for his administration and included police in the task force of responding agencies when he took office.
But the encampment sweeps have had mixed results so far.
Gothamist previously obtained data on Adams’ interagency homeless encampment cleanups through a Freedom of Information law request, which showed that the city conducted an average of 500 sweeps every month through last fall, and police were present at nearly all of them. Some locations, including one street in the East Village and another in Midtown, were cleared nearly 200 times, only to crop up again after the sweep.
City officials say the task force has gone out more than 11,500 times, cleared 6,800 locations and placed 315 homeless people in shelter or housing since March 2022.
Critics of the mayor’s tactics argue that the sweeps are ineffective and the quarterly reports are needed to understand how the city is spending its resources and what kinds of services are being offered to homeless people living on the streets.
“This delay is disappointing and I urge the administration to swiftly release the first report and avoid such delays in the future,” said Councilmember Sandy Nurse, who cosponsored the bill, in a statement. “Now more than ever it is critical that we fully understand the social and financial cost of homeless sweeps.”
Nurse said the data is crucial, given the record number of homeless people living on the streets and the scarcity of affordable housing. “I hope that this administration will move away from sweeping homelessness under the rug and instead meaningfully invest in proven Housing First strategies that actually solve homelessness,” she added.
Natalie Druce, a staff attorney for the Safety Net Project, a homeless advocacy group, said the data is even more urgent now that the Adams administration can legally evict adult migrants from city shelters once they reach their 30- or 60-day limits and don’t meet a list of allowable exceptions.
“That creates a kind of a vicious cycle of criminalization, if people are being evicted from the shelter system and ending up in the streets and then they're being kind of pushed around from place to place,” Druce said.
Tagged
Politics
new york city
housing
homelessness
economy
City Council
eric adams
Karen Yi
Karen Yi covers homelessness and poverty. She joined the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom in 2020. Before that, Karen covered Newark for the Star-Ledger and spent almost a decade working for newspapers in New Jersey and Florida. She grew up in Miami and has a dog named Cashew. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-589-1460.
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