Overview
- The New York City Department of Homeless Services has deployed outreach teams to a sprawling encampment along the West Side and says a seven-day daily outreach process is under way before the site can be cleared.
- City officials frame the effort as a housing-first push to connect people to shelter and supportive housing rather than an immediate police-led sweep.
- Residents, local elected officials and several outlets say hazardous and disorderly conditions have worsened near the Intrepid, Javits Center and Hudson Yards, and some dispute when outreach teams first arrived.
- Governor Kathy Hochul said state officials are working with the mayor and that crimes and people who cannot care for themselves must be addressed, signaling pressure on the city to move faster.
- If outreach does not produce voluntary moves to shelter, city sanitation officials can remove belongings after the outreach period ends, and the administration has also announced separate affordable-housing projects intended to expand long-term capacity.