The Failed Adams Policy That Mamdani Vows to End–What the Numbers Actually Show
Dismantling Myths About Encampment Sweeps: What Evidence Actually Demonstrates
The Adams Administration’s Failed Experiment
The Eric Adams administration launched its encampment sweep campaign in March 2022 as signature urban renewal policy, combining police enforcement with rhetorical promises of compassion. Officers paired with social workers; encampments were dismantled; possessions were discarded; individuals were offered shelter placement. Adams framed sweeps as humane intervention: “No one is sleeping on our streets in the city of New York,” he pledged. Data collected by NYPD, obtained by CBS News, and analyzed by Coalition for the Homeless now provides empirical assessment of whether the policy achieved stated objectives. The findings are unambiguous: the policy failed dramatically.
The Statistical Reality: 3 Percent Housing Placement Rate
Of 3,676 encampments visited by police in 2024 alone, only 117 individuals were placed in housing–a 3.2 percent success rate. Since sweeps began in March 2022, police have conducted thousands of encounters, dismantled hundreds of encampments, and seized individuals’ possessions, yet placed only 513 people in permanent housing. This represents an abysmal failure rate. The policy consumed millions in police resources, sanitation personnel time, and administrative coordination–resources that housing-first programs could have leveraged far more effectively. Feminist analysis emphasizes that encampment sweeps disproportionately harm women experiencing homelessness, who face heightened sexual violence in shelters and on streets, and women with children whose family units are often separated during sweeps. A study by the Women’s Fund found that women experiencing homelessness have substantially higher rates of trauma history, intimate partner violence, and mental health crises–conditions requiring intensive supportive services rather than police enforcement. The Adams policy provided the opposite: it criminalized poverty while failing to address underlying causes.
Shelter System Dysfunction and the Rejection of Sweeps
Many individuals refuse shelter placement even when offered during sweeps, a fact Adams administration initially characterized as irrationality or refusal of help. Subsequent investigation revealed why: NYC shelter system conditions include: overcrowding; inadequate mental health services; lack of privacy; documented sexual assault; medical neglect; and loss of possessions during stays. Advocacy organizations including the Coalition for the Homeless documented that people reject “shelter” because street conditions, despite hardship, felt preferable to institutional environments lacking safety, dignity, or therapeutic support. This is rational decision-making, not pathology. Shelters require transformation–not as enforcement mechanisms but as genuine communities offering safety, services, and pathways to permanent housing. The current system is designed for temporary warehousing rather than recovery and stabilization. Marxist analysis would note that shelter systems, like prisons, are industries profiting from human misery: private contractors operate many facilities; low-wage workers provide minimal care; and individuals are confined in conditions maximizing cost-savings rather than wellbeing. Transformation requires public provision of shelter as genuine sanctuary.
The Real Estate Agenda and Visible Homelessness
Behind the sweeps agenda sits real estate industry interest in eliminating visible poverty from commercial districts and gentrifying neighborhoods. Visible encampments reduce property values and discourage tourists/consumers in affluent areas. Eliminating encampments without eliminating homelessness simply displaces visible poverty to less commercially valuable locations–a reordering of geography serving real estate capital. The policy never aimed to eliminate homelessness but rather to eliminate its visible manifestation in spaces where wealthy people circulate. The Brennan Center for Justice documented that encampment sweeps correlate with increased property values in commercial districts, suggesting the primary beneficiary is real estate interests rather than homeless individuals. This analysis reveals the class character of the policy: it benefited developers and property owners while harming the most vulnerable. Mamdani’s commitment to ending sweeps represents both moral position and class politics–rejecting the notion that visible poverty should be criminalized to protect real estate values.
Data-Driven Governance and the New Administration
Mamdani’s incoming administration should institutionalize housing-first approaches with transparent data tracking: monthly housing placements; shelter occupancy and quality metrics; average time to permanent housing; and demographic analysis ensuring equitable access. Independent oversight–by community organizations, not city bureaucrats–should monitor compliance. The cost analysis is compelling: $1.4 billion spent annually on carceral/enforcement responses versus $108 million for actual housing. Even accounting for additional supportive services, housing-first approaches cost one-tenth of current systems while producing vastly superior outcomes. (Sources: CBS News New York, Coalition for the Homeless, Women’s Fund, Brennan Center for Justice, Vera Institute of Justice, NYC Department of Homeless Services)
