Street Life ‘Much Better’ Under Mamdani, Homeless Rave

Homeless New Yorkers raved about their new living conditions under New York City democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani. 

The relaxed enforcement has led to the appearance of new encampments across the city, including one directly across the street from New York University dorms. Homeless individuals told the New York Post that street life is “much better” under Mayor Mamdani. 

A homeless man who goes by Raymond said, “The past mayor had the police and they just came through and took stuff. Now they ask if we are OK and need help.”

Mamdani initially halted New York City’s encampment sweeps after taking office, reversing a policy aggressively pursued by former Mayor Eric Adams. He later reinstated the sweeps after at least 18 homeless people died outdoors during the city’s record-breaking cold winter. The renewed sweeps, however, remain far less aggressive than those conducted under Adams, who made clearing encampments a major priority of his administration.

Under Mamdani, the Department of Homeless Services, rather than the New York Police Department, takes the lead in addressing encampments. Under the previous administration, authorities could dismantle an encampment within a day. Mamdani’s policy instead requires the Department of Homeless Services’ staff to visit an encampment daily for one week and offer its residents services before the city can clear it.

The Mamdani administration has framed the slower process as a more humane approach aimed at connecting homeless New Yorkers with services rather than simply removing their belongings. Critics, however, argue that the policy allows dangerous and unsanitary encampments to remain in place while failing to address the conditions that cause many homeless people to avoid the city’s shelter system.

Former New York City mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa told The Daily Wire that many homeless New Yorkers remain on the streets because they fear what could happen to them inside the city’s shelters.

“They fear going into a shelter where they’re going to be preyed upon, where what few, few items that they may have will be stolen from them, where they can be sexually abused and physically harassed, and just again turned into a human piñata,” Sliwa said.

The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to The Daily Wire’s request for comment.