NYC Homeless Encampment Sweeps “Failed,” Audit Finds
New York City Mayor Eric Adams touted the city’s approach as a more humane way forward, but a comptroller’s analysis concluded that few people were connected to housing or services.
People are arrested during New York City's homeless encampment sweeps in the East Village neighborhood on April 6, 2022.
Photographer: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency
New York City’s sweeps of homeless encampments did little to connect unsheltered people with city services or permanent housing, a city audit found, raising questions about an approach that Mayor Eric Adams has called “compassionate” and “humane.”
The city Department of Homeless Services (DHS) and other agencies removed 2,308 people living in more than 1,000 parks, under bridges and other public spaces between March and November of 2022. The goal of these sweeps was to not just clear those sites, but to help the people they displaced find other housing and services.