Mayor Mamdani said Friday he still will only force homeless New Yorkers off the streets “as a last resort” — even as his office revealed 13 people have now died outdoors, with even colder temps coming this weekend.
The Democratic socialist continued to insist that city workers will compel homeless people to get indoors only if they pose a danger to themselves or others. He dug in his heels as the real-feel temperature was forecast to dip as low as -1 degree Saturday into Sunday.
Pressed on how city workers will determine if someone is a danger to themselves, Mamdani said numerous factors need to be taken into account before getting someone to shelter, including whether they have enough clothing on.
“There are a number of specific criteria that is used in determining whether one is a danger to themselves or to others,” Mamdani told reporters at an unrelated event in Long Island City.
“I think we can find some of this criteria also in how an individual is clothed, whether they are deemed to actually be warm in those settings, as well as their behavior,” Hizzoner said.
“And for the New Yorkers who are deemed to be a threat to themselves or to others, there is a process of involuntary confinement which is a last resort,” he continued. “However, it has been utilized a number of times whenever city workers have come to that conclusion.”
Hours later, his office announced that the outdoor death toll had tragically risen by three since last Saturday, when the Big Apple began getting walloped by unrelenting below-freezing conditions and Winter Storm Fern.
A City Hall spokesperson said in a statement the number of deaths has increased to 13 – up from the 10 officials reported earlier this week, spanning from Saturday to Tuesday. The mayor’s office didn’t provide any additional details about the three newly-tallied deaths, and it wasn’t known when they had taken place.
At least six of the previously reported 10 outdoor fatalities included people who previously had interactions with the city’s shelter system while seven of them were believed to be linked to hypothermia, according to city officials.
The medical examiner’s office was still working to determine the exact cause of deaths for the 13 New Yorkers, and their identities also have not been officially released.
But one was Frederick Jones, 67, who was formerly homeless, was found dead Saturday morning in Midtown, about a mile from his government-subsidized apartment building, the outlet reported.
Cops were called twice about Jones — on Friday morning and at around 11:30 p.m. that night, before the deep-freeze fully set in — but he refused help the first time and didn’t meet the criteria for involuntary removal, and first responders couldn’t find him on the second instance, according to Gothamist.
“I’m just in shock,” Shonell McKinley, a court-appointed guardian for Jones, told the outlet.
“He should not have been outside. He had a roof over his head.”
Michael Veronico, 44, who was found dead Saturday morning, outside of a building in Brooklyn near Warren Street and who appeared to be homeless.
His family said he likely died alone in the freezing cold from a drug overdose after years of substance abuse, according to Gothamist.
Mamdani’s administration said Friday the city rolled out 18 “enhanced warming centers” and 20 warming centers and was greatly ramping up outreach across the city ahead of the incoming weekend deep-freeze.
Department of Homeless Services workers are working overtime shifts and scouring the streets for unsheltered New Yorkers every two hours instead of every four.
Since the “cold blue” was issued Jan. 19, City Hall said workers had placed 825 people into “safe havens” and other shelters and made 15 involuntary removals.
But Mamdani’s arguably hands-off stance on getting the homeless inside has still faced backlash, including from former Mayor Eric Adams, who called on his successor to take a firmer approach.
“On 12/05/25, I begged then Mayor-elect Mamdani not to reverse our policy that kept homeless New Yorkers from freezing outdoors in makeshift encampments,” Adams posted on X on Thursday in reference to Mamdani announcing he would stop sweeps of homeless encampments when he took office.
Mamdani also ordered cops and sanitation workers to stop tearing down homeless encampments in the weeks leading up to the deadly cold snap, The Post reported Thursday.
Adams appeared to blame Mamdani for the fatalities as he urged him to reinstate his old policy.
“Every day of delay risks more lives,” he said.
Queens Republican Councilwoman Joann Ariola also called on Mamdani to more forcefully get the homeless to shelter.
“If he wants to do better, the Mayor could start by actually enforcing the Code Blue so our most vulnerable stop freezing to death on our streets,” she said.
“Especially during Code Blue conditions, involuntary commitment has to be on the table to protect people who clearly lack the capacity to understand the danger of remaining on the streets in extreme weather,” said Queens Councilman Phil Wong, a Democrat.
“We’ve already seen 10 people die, and we are not seeing the urgency needed to use tools like involuntary commitment quickly enough to prevent further loss of life.”
Those found dead on Saturday morning included a homeless woman identified by law-enforcement sources as 64-year-old Barbara Szuter, in Brooklyn, authorities said.
Also on Saturday morning, a 60-year-old man was found outside St. Barnabas Hospital in The Bronx, leading staff to rush him inside to provide aid before he was pronounced dead, cops said.
Another man in Manhattan and one man in Queens were also separately found outside Saturday morning and later died at local hospitals, cops said.
One of the victims, Nolberto Jimbo-Niola, 52, was found sitting on a bench in North Corona in Queens Sunday morning, just days after he was discharged from Elmhurst Hospital, Gothamist reported, citing state Sen. Jessica Ramos and other officials.
Doreen Ellis, a 90-year-old woman who lived in a Brooklyn apartment was found dead Monday morning after wandering outside during the snowstorm the previous night, sources said. Loved ones told Gothamist she suffered from dementia.
One man, whose age wasn’t immediately known, was found dead at a Bronx construction site Monday morning.
The 10th reported victim before the new death toll was announced was a 47-year-old man who apparently fell off a bench and hit his head before he was found dead Tuesday outside of a Key Foods in Flushing, Queens, sources told The Post.
There were 29 cold exposure deaths in the city in 2023, according to the latest available figures that don’t separate between victims who are homeless and those who have shelter. Between 2020 and 2023, there were an average of about 34 cold exposure fatalities.
— Additional reporting by Tina Moore and Joseph Marino