February 18, 2026 The Coalition for the Homeless and The Legal Aid Society issued the following statement on the Mamdani Administration revamping homeless sweeps: “Like Mayor Mamdani’s pledge to expand CityFHEPS, his pledge to discontinue homeless sweeps is another broken promise. “During his final four years in office, former Mayor Eric Adams relied heavily on encampment sweeps in response to homelessness — efforts that, from January 2024 through June 2025, failed to secure permanent housing for a single New Yorker. “These sweeps failed on multiple fronts: they were inhumane, stripping unhoused New Yorkers of their few belongings and eroding trust in city services, and they were ineffective, doing little more than pushing people out of sight. “If the Mayor wants to see fewer encampments, the City should expand on the efforts of the last few weeks by increasing the number of outreach workers and offering unsheltered individuals low-barrier shelter beds, such as safe havens and stabilization beds, and immediate access to supportive housing. “As the saying goes, ‘Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’ Returning to a failed approach will not produce different outcomes — it will only repeat the same mistakes.”
