New York City is about to get a new mayor, and his name is Zohran Mamdani. He calls himself a “democratic socialist,” and he’s already making big promises. One of his first plans? To stop the city’s cleanup of homeless encampments. These are the makeshift shelters that pop up on sidewalks, under bridges, and in parks all over the city.
Now, let’s talk about what that really means. Right now, New York allows people to report these encampments because they block public spaces and can be dangerous. In fact, the city got over 45,000 complaints about them just this year. That’s not a small number. These encampments are not just eyesores—they can be health hazards, attract crime, and make neighborhoods unsafe, especially for families and seniors trying to live decent lives.
Current Mayor Eric Adams had a plan to deal with this. His administration would go in, clean up these areas, and try to get the homeless into shelters. It wasn’t perfect, but at least it was something. Now Mamdani wants to shut that down completely. He says the sweeps didn’t work and that the real solution is more housing.
Here’s the thing—every veteran knows that when you let a problem sit, it gets worse. Setting up camp in the middle of a city sidewalk is not a solution. It’s a symptom of deeper issues—yes, including addiction, mental health problems, and yes, bad housing policies. But letting the problem fester in the streets helps no one—not the homeless, not the taxpayers, and not the law-abiding residents who are just trying to raise their families and go to work.
Mamdani says he wants to build more affordable housing and even freeze rents in some buildings. But he hasn’t shared how he’s going to do that or how he’ll pay for it. That’s a big red flag. New York is already bursting at the seams, and the city’s homeless crisis has doubled in just two years. Why? A big reason is the flood of illegal immigrants who’ve been pouring into the city. That’s not just a talking point—it’s a fact backed by New York State’s own numbers. In 2022, there were about 45,000 people in shelters. Now it’s close to 90,000.
Let’s not kid ourselves. This isn’t just a housing problem—it’s a leadership problem. And if Mamdani thinks stopping the cleanup efforts is going to help, he’s fooling himself and everyone else. You can’t just ignore a public safety issue and hope it fixes itself.
Some people, like the city comptroller, say these cleanups didn’t work because only a few of the homeless went into shelters. But that’s not the full story. City Hall pushed back and said over 500 people were actually connected to real housing through these efforts. That’s 500 people who are safer now than they were on the streets. That matters.
We’ve got to stop pretending that letting people live in tents on sidewalks is compassionate. It’s not. It’s lazy governance. Real leadership means making tough calls. It means cleaning up the city, helping people get treatment, and making sure our streets are safe. That’s what the people of New York deserve.
As someone who has served this country and seen what real hardship looks like, I can tell you this: you don’t solve problems by throwing up your hands. You fix them by rolling up your sleeves. New York needs a leader who understands that. Right now, it looks like they’re getting the opposite.
