Members of the Mamdani administration faced sharp questioning from the City Council on Tuesday over whether enough is being done to keep homeless New Yorkers indoors during this winter’s frigid cold snap.
Lawmakers took particular issue with the narrow rules governing when the city can remove people involuntarily from frozen streets.
Since Jan. 19, the city has either been under a Code Blue or experienced below-freezing temperatures, conditions that have coincided with a growing death toll.
What You Need To Know
Since Jan. 19, New York City has been under Code Blue or below-freezing conditions
State law requires signs of mental illness and danger to self or others for involuntary removal
As of Tuesday, 37 people were removed from streets and more than 1,400 placed in shelters
Council members say 17 to 18 deaths in roughly three weeks signal possible systemic failures
“How can a person refusing to come indoors in freezing weather, where they are obviously at great risk of dying, not be assessed to be a danger to themselves?” Council Speaker Julie Menin, a Democrat, asked during the hearing.
Social Services Commissioner Molly Wasow Park defended the city’s approach.
“If an individual is completely lucid, they are dry, they are wearing enough layers of clothing and they do not want to come inside, they have the right to not come inside,” Wasow Park said.
Under state law, involuntary removal requires a two-part threshold: A person must be exhibiting signs of mental illness and be a threat to themselves or others.
Council members pressed officials on why the threshold remains so high, especially during extreme cold.
“If you have a sound mind, you know that in those temperatures you cannot stay warm by wrapping yourself in newspapers,” said Council Member Phil Wong, a Democrat from Queens.
Council Member Joann Ariola, a Republican from Queens, asked whether someone “unhoused on the sidewalk, cleaning the floor, not really being cohesive when speaking and approached by SOH&H, one of our CBOs, our EMTs, our NYPD — would that person meet the criteria?”
City officials, including representatives from the NYPD, said assessments are made on a case-by-case basis.
“If our officers encounter them, they’re coherent, they’re able to answer our questions, they are not exhibiting signs of mental illness, it becomes more difficult — but again, it’s very context specific,” said Alex Crohn, NYPD deputy commissioner for strategic initiatives.
As of Tuesday, 37 New Yorkers had been removed from city streets and more than 1,400 had been placed in shelters, according to the mayor.
Those who were not removed were checked on every four hours during Code Blue conditions and every two hours during enhanced emergency activations.
Speaking to NY1, Mayor Zohran Mamdani did not say whether he supports relaxing the state law, instead praising the city’s overall response.
“What they’ve done is kept people alive amidst a temperature that on Sunday was colder than Antarctica,” Mamdani said.
Since temperatures plunged, the city has deployed 400 outreach workers, activated dozens of warming vans and centers, and opened four new shelters.
City officials described the deaths as tragic.
“There was a precipitous drop in temperatures that was incredibly dangerous and deadly,” said Zach Iscol, commissioner of NYC Emergency Management.
After the hearing, its co-chairs told NY1 they believe there were systemic failures in the city’s response.
“We should never get to a point where people are choosing to be on the streets as opposed to being in shelter,” said Council Member Crystal Hudson, a Democrat from Brooklyn.
“Even though the average amount of deaths due to hypothermia is in the 30s, I would say 17 or 18 individuals losing their lives within the span of three weeks — that does sound like a lot,” said Council Member Oswald Feliz, a Democrat from the Bronx.