Socialist Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced on Thursday that sweeps of homeless encampments in New York City will come to an end under his administration.
The clearing of homeless encampments was a signature initiative of Mayor Eric Adams, who was criticized for not providing homeless people with permanent homes.
“If you are not connecting homeless New Yorkers to the housing that they so desperately need, then you cannot deem anything you’re doing to be a success,” Mamdani said, according to the New York Post. “We are going to take an approach that understands its mission is connecting those New Yorkers to housing.”
For the radical left, housing is a human right. Then again, attending to the homeless is a multi-billion-dollar industry for the left.
“Whether it’s supportive housing, whether it’s rental housing, whatever kind of housing it is, because what we have seen is the treatment of homelessness as if it is a natural part of living in this city, when in fact, it’s more often a reflection of a political choice being made,” Mamdani said.
NYC Councilwoman Vickie Paladino blasted the announcement as a “horrible idea.”
“This one horrible idea — nearly above all of his other horrible ideas — will have the most immediate, noticeable, and devastating impact on quality of life in NYC,”: she posted on X. “Unchecked homeless encampments will wipe away the final veneer of civility the city was clinging to. No longer will we be able to say ‘at least we’re not San Francisco’. It’s going to get bad, it’s going to get bad fast, and it’s going to be impossible to ignore.”
This one horrible idea — nearly above all of his other horrible ideas — will have the most immediate, noticeable, and devastating impact on quality of life in NYC.
Unchecked homeless encampments will wipe away the final veneer of civility the city was clinging to.
No longer… https://t.co/aFPIg2umOy
— Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (@VickieforNYC) December 5, 2025
Adams put his foot down on tent cities after taking office in 2022, kicking off an initiative to clear them out.
“We cannot tolerate these makeshift, unsafe houses on the side of highways, in trees, in front of schools, in parks. This is just not acceptable, and it’s something I’m just not going to allow to happen,” Adams said at the time, according to the Post.
Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story, as seen on X:
This is fantastic!
There is no need to stay in a hotel any longer in New York City.
Instead, just bring a tent and stay for free in Central Park or anywhere you want in NYC!
Stay for free.
Mamdani won’t stop people from living on the streets.
NYC will become a cesspool. pic.twitter.com/hIYmYCMhYQ
— Truth And Justice (@TruthAndJust1) December 5, 2025
There’s probably no single worse policy Mamdani could enact that permitting homeless encampments in the streets and subways of NYC. Other cities have learned the hard way. Tent cities currently do not exist not because there is enough housing, but because they are not permitted. pic.twitter.com/GyDvpTHu15
— Peter Moskos (@PeterMoskos) December 5, 2025
Mamdani’s encampment surrender isn’t compassion—it’s chaos codified. Adams’ sweeps pulled 20,000 illegal guns off streets and slashed homicides 23%. Mamdani’s “solution”? Let tents metastasize while gutting the only strategy that actually lowered violence.
His housing promise?…
— CityDeskNYC (@CityDeskNYC) December 5, 2025
There’s clearly an incentive to keep homeless people on the street, it’s the only explanation
— Warren (@WarrenBased) December 5, 2025
In 6 months New York City should look like the worst parts of Los Angeles. Congratulations to everybody who voted for him. You deserve what you get.
— CITY NEWS AMERICA (@PatriotSent) December 5, 2025
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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