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An FDNY ambulance on Parkside Avenue in Brooklyn.
File photo by Ben Brachfeld
By most accounts, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s response to the first major winter storm of his tenure at City Hall was a good one. Aside from annoying snow pileups at bus stops, City Hall was prepared and ensured the basics were met: the roads were plowed and salted, and the temporary shift to remote learning for public schools on Monday went with few hiccups.
But amid the cold snap that gripped the city before and after Sunday’s winter storm, 10 New Yorkers died amid the elements. That happened even as the mayor enacted the city’s “Code Blue,” sending outreach experts across the city to counsel those living on the streets and connect them to shelter.
In an emergency like this cold spell, the city cannot allow anyone to perish on the streets from hypothermia and related exposure conditions. It shows the necessity of policies such as involuntary hospitalization to commit those who are no longer able to realize they are a danger to themselves and others — namely those struggling with mental illness.
The deaths occurred even as the city had connected 500 homeless New Yorkers into transitional housing since Jan. 19, according to Mamdani. Of those, 70 people were brought indoors during outreach efforts immediately before and during the winter storm.
On Tuesday, Mamdani acknowledged that the city needed to do more to prevent further unnecessary deaths from exposure and enhanced the Code Blue response. More social workers and homeless outreach experts are hitting the streets, and the city has opened up more warming shelters and warming buses at key locations — all in an effort to get everyone out of the cold and save lives.
No New Yorker should have to live on the street, or feel compelled to do so. The biggest challenge for the Mamdani administration amid this brutal cold spell — which is expected to go on through at least early next week — is not so much the resources being provided, but rather convincing street homeless to accept the help offered to them.
For years, many street homeless people we have spoken to in our reporting on other matters have expressed great mistrust about the city’s shelter system; they believe it is unsafe and does more harm than good. That stigma has been ingrained for years and it won’t be broken overnight.
Mamdani has been a critic of involuntary hospitalization in the past, but during this winter crisis, he has not ruled out its use as a “last resort” to save the lives of New Yorkers.
That is the right approach, but Mamdani should also apply that standard to everyday life in New York, not just during extreme weather. This must be the approach also for tackling those who suffer from severe mental illness and can no longer recognize their need for treatment.
Involuntary hospitalization should not be seen as punishment, but rather as a last-ditch effort to protect New Yorkers and give those afflicted the opportunity to heal and recover. In short, it can help save numerous lives and restore hope that no one in New York will ever be left out in the cold — both literally and figuratively.
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