Zohran Mamdani slams critics of his plan to end homeless camp sweeps but fails to address quality of life concerns

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani hit back Tuesday at criticism over his plan to stop clearing homeless camps — but still came up short on concrete alternatives and failed to address quality of life concerns.The democratic socialist pol slammed the current policy for policing street encampments under Mayor Eric Adams, noting the city had failed to connect any homeless people caught up in the sweeps to permanent housing last year.“What I’m opposed to is the failure that we’ve seen to characterize the Adams administration’s approach to this,” he said, when asked where he drew the line in ending the current policy — and if he’d even ban sweeps in instances where someone is camping out in a subway car or across a sidewalk.“What I’m opposed to is looking at an entire calendar year and seeing the Adams administration be unable to connect a single homeless New Yorker that was affected by those sweeps to permanent housing,” Mamdani railed at a press conference in Lower Manhattan’s frigid Canal Park.The outgoing mayor has fiercely hit back at his successor’s plan, announced last week, to end the major Adams admin initiative that ramped up in 2022.Hizzoner argued that allowing homeless New Yorkers to stay outside in the cold was “inhumane” and said it wasn’t realistic to think the city could let people camp out on the streets.But Mamdani failed to deliver concrete policy points when pressed Tuesday about how he’d address quality-of-life issues.“New Yorkers are wondering in that very specific scenario where there is something affecting the quality of life … What does Mayor Mamdani do?” one reporter asked.“Mayor Mamdani ensures that we connect those New Yorkers with actual housing,” he said, without specifying how his administration would convince homeless people to get off the streets.“We cannot allow ourselves to become complacent with what has become the norm in this city, and that doesn’t mean leaving New Yorkers to sleep in the col...