March count found nearly 5,000 unsheltered people living on city streets, up 11% from prior year
NEW YORK — Community and business leaders are criticizing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s handling of homeless encampments after his administration implemented a policy delaying the removal of the structures for at least seven days. A March 2026 city-conducted survey counted nearly 5,000 unsheltered people living on city streets, 11% more than the previous year’s count. Their primary complaint is that encampments are not being cleared, and the makeshift clusters can span as much as half a city block. Residents and business owners say the delay lets people move across the street on the sixth day and restart the removal clock. City officials said the requirement followed a stipulation reached after New York was sued over its handling of encampments.
Homeless advocates cautioned that the counts can be affected by several factors, including weather. New York, like other big cities, has dealt with a sharp rise in homelessness in recent years, a problem that has challenged successive mayors. Encampments can create unsafe or unsanitary conditions, but removing people against their will raises legal and humanitarian concerns.
The Intrepid Museum, housed in a decommissioned aircraft carrier moored along Manhattan’s West Side, has been a popular destination for local families. This summer, as homeless encampments and drug use proliferated on nearby streets, some parents took the popular family destination off their activity lists. Leslie Woodruff, founder of a Hell’s Kitchen parent-message board, said the city was removing encampments made from tarps, plywood and discarded furniture only for them to return in full view of tourists near Times Square. “It boggles my mind that so many people come here to visit and that’s their greeting,” she said.
When Mamdani took office in January, he paused homeless sweeps, a longstanding practice that had intensified under his predecessor, Eric Adams. He resumed the sweeps after a series of outdoor deaths during a cold snap, but his administration implemented a policy delaying removal of the structures for at least seven days. The extra time gives outreach workers an opportunity to persuade people to accept services and offer them a chance to secure their belongings.
Delores Rubin, a Hell’s Kitchen resident and president of a group that acts as a community liaison to the local New York Police Department precinct, said the delay does not reach people who need assistance. “I’m going to be blunt: This policy is insane. It does not help the very people it’s saying it’s helping,” she said.
The administration has also introduced a new system to better track encampments and coordinate responses. It is expanding programs that give priority to unsheltered people for immediate placement into housing.
Mamdani campaigned on making New York more affordable and has introduced a plan to build 200,000 new housing units over the next decade, which could help homelessness over the longer term. Community and business leaders said Mamdani’s early efforts had not done enough to address the problem. Community leaders have grown impatient with Mamdani, whom The Wall Street Journal has described as a Democratic socialist, for not providing a comprehensive strategy to combat homelessness now, while city officials said Mamdani expects to unveil a dedicated plan by the end of the year. “Through meaningful street outreach, stabilization options and supportive housing, the Mamdani administration will help New Yorkers rebuild their lives with the dignity, care and stability they deserve,” a mayoral spokesperson said.
Michael Breslaw, owner of a plumbing company and landlord of a residential and commercial building about a block from the Intrepid Museum, said the encampments near his property had worsened over the previous 10 months and made the area unsafe. A family living in his building complained about the encampments visible from their apartment and might not renew its lease, he said. A deli leasing storefront space from him recently received a city summons for garbage left on the sidewalk by people who live in a nearby encampment and congregate outside the business.
Business owners say the city’s homelessness challenges are stifling commercial activity in Manhattan and increasingly in other boroughs. “Meanwhile, directly across the street where the actual encampment is, it’s a complete disaster—but they don’t get any tickets at all,” Breslaw said. “There’s no consistency, no accountability.”
Underneath the Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive, an elevated highway along Manhattan’s East Side, encampments have filled public areas with debris, including propane tanks used for cooking. Some had remained for months because the city delayed removals based on weather or other factors, Council Member Virginia Maloney, a Democrat who represents the area, said. Residents in her district complained over the summer about one large encampment where there was an indecent-exposure incident and an assault on a residential security guard, she said.
Maloney said she had to work with multiple agencies to remove that encampment and prevent it from being repopulated, and that other council members had dealt with similar issues. “Ten council members making 10 separate calls about versions of the exact same problem is evidence that this system needs to have a better structure,” she said.
Dave Giffen, executive director of Coalition for the Homeless, said encampment sweeps do not solve street homelessness, particularly for people reluctant to use the shelter system after bad experiences. “Unless you’re offering people something that’s meaningful to them, all you’re doing is chasing them around the city and making it harder to provide them with what they need in order to get stability,” he said. Giffen said the simplest solution is to build more affordable housing. He said Mamdani’s housing plan focuses on working-class New Yorkers but does not do enough for the lowest-income bracket.