NYC adds 800 shelter beds and $25 million to winter response
Mayor Zohran Mamdani's plan expands street outreach and snow clearing after 26 cold-related deaths last year.
By Carolina Wood ·
New York City will add 800 shelter beds and more than 300 street outreach workers for the coming winter, according to a $25 million budget announced Monday. The funding expands the city's Code Blue emergency system, which activates when wind-chill temperatures drop to freezing or below.
The expansion follows a harsh winter in which 19 people died outdoors and seven others died of hypothermia indoors by mid-February. Not all outdoor deaths were confirmed as cold-related. The figures prompted a City Council hearing in February where lawmakers questioned whether emergency outreach was reaching people at risk.
Under the new plan, canvassers will cover 75% of locations where homeless New Yorkers are known to stay. They will engage anyone they encounter who may need help, rather than relying on predetermined contact lists. NYC Health + Hospitals will deploy up to 55 mobile medical units staffed by registered nurses or nurse practitioners to provide care and transport.
At the highest emergency level, the Department of Homeless Services will open four new warming centers and use up to 20 warming buses. All 11 NYC Health + Hospitals facilities will serve as warming locations. Four syringe service providers will extend their hours to offer overnight access to warm spaces.
City Hall did not specify where the 800 new shelter rooms will be located or when they will open. The city also did not provide a breakdown of how the $25 million will be divided among outreach, medical services, and shelter capacity.
The administration is also changing how it clears snow and ice after a February blizzard left some neighborhoods buried for days. The Department of Sanitation added eight snowplow routes in Staten Island's hilliest areas, reducing the distance each route covers by more than 25%. Citywide, the department acquired 120 snow blowers to clear bus stops and crosswalks and outfitted 678 plows with new blades.
Sanitation Commissioner Gregory Anderson said the department identified approximately 20,000 corners for priority clearing, including areas near transit stops and accessible pedestrian signals. He noted that while the city expects to clear these areas faster than in previous winters, it cannot guarantee specific response times due to varying storm conditions.
More than 3,000 people have registered for the emergency snow shoveler workforce, following a September decision to raise the starting wage from $19.14 to $30 per hour. The city has over 2,200 vehicles ready to convert into snowplows, more than 700 salt spreaders, and 7,000 sanitation workers trained for snow removal.
