NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams once again doubled down on his policy of removing homeless encampments from city streets — displaying stark photos of the encampments and continuing to bemoan the city’s “dysfunction” to drive home his point Wednesday at a City Hall news conference.
The mayor’s plan to remove the encampments emerged publicly last week. Since then, it’s been met with a chorus of criticism from advocates who say it’s too heavy handed and would undermine the trust the city’s trying to establish with people it’s attempting to entice into a shelter.
The encampment sweeps began on March 18, and on Wednesday, Adams and city officials revealed that so far 244 have been identified and 239 have been “cleaned.” Still, only five homeless people have accepted services from the city as a result of sweeps, according to Adams, who predicted that, based on a similar initiative to remove homeless people from the subway system, that number will go up.
“In our transit initiative, we went out, we tried to get people out of the subway system. As of today, we have over 300 who have accepted services,” he said. “The first week, no one wanted to do it, no trust. Repeating it allowed us to do so. This initiative, the first seven or eight days, we had five people that accepted services. Some went back home, some went to other locations. We know the continuation of this program, and now with the new brochure, we know those numbers are going to continue to increase.”
The glossy, one-page palm card that Adams referenced, which he first announced Tuesday, was distributed to reporters after the news briefing.
“Do you need a place to sleep tonight?” it states. “A shower, a meal, or even someone to talk to?”
To highlight the “dysfunction” that Adams has pointed to in recent weeks, he also displayed enlarged photos of the encampments taken by outreach workers. One depicted a dirty blanket littered with used syringes, and another showed a wooden pallet covered in blankets.
Adams’ homeless encampment sweeps are not the first time the city has employed the policy. Such sweeps were common to former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration and date back decades — leading advocates to question why the mayor thinks they’ll work now.
But Adams pushed back on such critiques, labeling his detractors as “naysayers” and inviting them to come along with him as he urges people living on the streets to move into shelters.
“We’re in this together. This is not a point where folks are going to look and say what I’m doing wrong. It’s already wrong. It’s already a mess,” he said. “And so we are trying to do the best. And so those who really are concerned about the homeless, come out with me, let’s go together and encourage people not to live on the streets.”
Meera Joshi, Adam’s deputy mayor of operations, described the outreach teams’ interactions with people living in encampments as an ongoing process that would take “constant communication and trust and relationships” to execute effectively.
“I want to emphasize that this is not a one and done,” she said.
She also noted that social service workers, police officers and sanitation workers give homeless people at least a day’s notice before removing their encampments.
“Before any site is cleaned up, the Department of Homeless Services surveys the area, posts a notice at least 24 hours in advance of the cleanup, and engages with clients if they are onsite,” Joshi said. “This is not a rush job. This takes time, and especially patience.”
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