It’s a bit of a hackneyed trope that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Yet, here we are again, hearing angry calls for aggressive sweeps of encampments of unsheltered New Yorkers even though the approach has never worked.
Mayor Eric Adams prioritized eliminating encampments by pursuing an aggressive strategy of criminalization and encampment sweeps led by the NYPD, and expanded use of involuntary hospitalizations. Yet the most recent official estimate of how many people are sleeping in public spaces, conducted just after Adams left office, showed the highest number since the city started tracking the population, at nearly 5,000 people on a single night in March.
New York City fortunately has a legal right to shelter for all who are homeless, and last night nearly 100,000 people slept in the city’s shelter systems. While there are more people without homes in New York than anywhere else in the country, there are far fewer on the streets because of the legal right to shelter. And yet, on any given night, thousands of people still bed down on the streets, in the transit system, and in other public spaces.
This is primarily because most of those individuals have been in the shelter system at some point and found that it didn’t meet their needs. When we surveyed more than 200 unsheltered people a few years ago, what we heard most often is that they felt they had more safety, dignity, and agency roughing it on their own than in the general shelter system.
They described crowded congregate dorms, curfews, and rules that force them to leave behind partners, pets, and possessions, along with a constant fear of theft and violence. This is a problem. They also said that what they really wanted was permanent housing. This is also a problem. But these are problems that the city can solve.
We know what doesn’t work. Aggressive sweeps and involuntary removals are nothing more than a PR strategy for temporarily removing the poorest New Yorkers from public view in wealthy neighborhoods without actually offering those individuals what they want and need to get off the streets.
But the Mamdani administration can try a different approach, rather than trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Nobody wants to be homeless. Nobody chooses to live unsheltered in a cardboard box if they have what they believe to be a better option. And we have seen what options work.
Ten years ago, the city succeeded in reducing chronic homelessness among veterans to functional zero by using the Housing First model to place those individuals directly into supportive housing — which is permanent housing that provides social services. It worked.
When permanent housing may not be an option, we have seen that people sleeping on the streets — many of whom may have mental illnesses and other disabilities — are far more likely to come inside to a low-barrier shelter called a safe haven, where they can then get the services and access to supportive housing they need.
Mayor Mamdani has an opportunity here to do this right. Sweeps do not work. That means funding enough safe haven beds to meet demand and moving people into supportive housing quickly, so nobody who accepts an offer waits months for a unit. Offering people permanent housing, safe haven shelters, and the healthcare and services they want and need is the only way forward.
Giffen is executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless.