Tuesday, Jan. 27, marked the 27th day of Zohran Mamdani’s term as mayor. amNewYork is following Mamdani around his first 100 days in office as we closely track his progress on fulfilling campaign promises, appointing key leaders to government posts, and managing the city’s finances. Here’s a summary of what the mayor did today.
As dangerously cold air settles over New York City following a weekend snowstorm, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Tuesday that at least 10 people have died after being found outdoors, prompting the city to roll out emergency measures that go beyond its standard cold-weather response.
“We don’t yet know whether every case will be ruled hypothermia,” Mamdani said during a City Hall press briefing, “but we need every New Yorker to be on alert, looking out for their neighbors.”
The city remains under a Code Blue, which triggers round-the-clock outreach, relaxed shelter intake rules, and expanded emergency services, but Mamdani said the severity and duration of the cold require additional action. He described the conditions as “the coldest weather conditions that we have experienced in the city for eight years.”
Since Jan. 19, the city has placed nearly 500 homeless New Yorkers into transitional housing, including shelters, safe havens, and stabilized beds, according to Mamdani. Seventy people were brought indoors during the most recent outreach efforts alone.
Still, he said, “Code Blue alone is not enough in a cold this severe, this rare.”
Mercury keeps plunging
The briefing came as the National Weather Service issued a Cold Weather Advisory for all five boroughs, warning of wind chills as low as six degrees below zero overnight into Wednesday morning. Forecasters warned that prolonged exposure could lead to hypothermia if precautions are not taken.
Under the expanded emergency protocol, he said the city is increasing canvassing efforts every few hours, deploying staff from shelter providers, partnering with faith-based organizations, and coordinating with homeless advocacy groups, such as the Street Homeless Advocacy Project, to arrange extra outreach shifts.
The city has opened 10 new warming shelters since Friday and, as of Monday night, added seven additional NYC Health + Hospitals centers across all five boroughs. Officials have also added 10 new warming buses at key locations, supplementing existing mobile warming units.
Hospitals have been asked to limit overnight discharges when patients do not have a known place to go.
“We have reiterated that guidance and also put out additional guidance to remind hospitals that overnight discharges…should be limited,” said Molly Wasow Park, the city’s commissioner of social services.
Mental health teams have been redirected to focus on street and subway outreach, and the city postponed its annual HOPE Count of the homeless population during the emergency.
“When the cold is this deadly, we need to meet the moment and leave no stone unturned,” Mamdani said. “Extreme weather is not a personal failure, but it is a public responsibility.”
“If we have the resources to act, we have the obligation to act, and we are mobilizing every resource at our disposal to ensure that New Yorkers are brought indoors during this potentially lethal weather event,” he added.
But homeless advocacy organizations said the latest deaths underscore deeper, long-standing failures in the city’s homelessness system that cannot be solved through emergency measures alone.
In a joint statement, the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless said they agreed with the mayor that outreach services need to expand, but argued that years of city policy have eroded trust between unhoused New Yorkers and outreach workers.
“After more than a decade of relentless sweeps, many unhoused New Yorkers have learned to avoid outreach by the New York City Department of Homeless Services entirely,” the groups said, citing “losing their belongings, hostile interactions with law enforcement, and not receiving meaningful help.”
The organizations said outreach workers often lack the ability to offer unhoused people what they need most — permanent housing — and warned that trust cannot be rebuilt quickly in the middle of a cold-weather emergency.
“Rebuilding that trust and increasing the supply of affordable housing will take time and cannot be accomplished overnight,” the statement said. “The City also lacks the staffing capacity to check on every known unsheltered person in the critical hours before severe weather.”
“Decades of systemic failure cannot be reversed with a few days of outreach or warming buses,” the groups added. “Forty years of mismanagement of homelessness and the shelter system cannot be undone in a single emergency response.”
Who the city is prioritizing
Wasow Park said outreach workers are focusing on a list of roughly 350 unsheltered people considered especially vulnerable because of age or underlying medical conditions. Teams attempt to engage those individuals every two hours, though she noted people are mobile and not always found.
Of those who died, she said, “there are people with DHS history at this point,” but added, “to the best of my knowledge, it’s not individuals on the By Name List,” emphasizing that some cases remain under investigation.
She also said involuntary hospital removals remain a last resort. “If somebody is truly in danger, we will take action to save their lives,” she said, but stressed that nearly all recent shelter placements were voluntary.
Mamdani echoed that position. “We are not going to leave someone out in the cold if they’re a danger to themselves or to others,” he said.
Services: Lingering snow problems
Officials said outreach efforts continue in the subway system, where a nonprofit provider works exclusively underground. Warming buses have been stationed at end-of-line subway stations, which officials say often see higher concentrations of unsheltered people during cold weather.
Meanwhile, snow and ice from the weekend storm continued to affect mobility across the city. Julia Kerson, the city’s new deputy mayor for operations, said that as of 6:15 a.m. Tuesday, 75% of bus stops with shelters had been cleared by Department of Transportation contractors.
Sanitation crews, she said, are managing more than 1,000 workers clearing sidewalks and bus stops without shelters. On Monday alone, crews cleared 1,800 bus stops, 6,000 crosswalks, and 1,800 hydrants.
“Normally, we have the help of warmer weather in melting the snow that we do not have this week,” Kerson said. “We ask for just a little bit of patience.”
Appointments: Probation, city-wide services, environment
After addressing the cold-weather emergency, Mamdani announced three senior appointments to his administration.
Sharun Goodwin was named commissioner of the Department of Probation. A Bronx native, Goodwin served 37 years at the agency before retiring in 2024, rising from intern to deputy commissioner.
“Probation is not simply about supervision,” Goodwin said. “It is about accountability and opportunity… Public safety and compassion are not opposing forces. They are complementary responsibilities.”
Yume Kitasei was appointed commissioner of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, which oversees city hiring, municipal buildings and fleet operations. A longtime city government official, Kitasei described herself as a “government nerd” and said DCAS is “the key to tackling slow and cumbersome hiring processes.” Kitasei is also the author of several speculative fiction novels.
Lisa Garcia was named commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection after serving as administrator of EPA Region 2 under President Biden. DEP, she said, is central to daily life in the city. “When you turn on the tap, that’s DEP… even when you flush the toilet, that’s DEP.”
Garcia said climate change and equity would be central to her work. “It is critical that DEP take the lead in protecting against climate impacts,” she said.
Reporters pressed the new commissioners on issues including alleged nepotism at the Department of Probation, lease reviews at DCAS tied to a previously indicted official, water rates, and major infrastructure projects.
Mamdani repeatedly stepped in, saying the commissioner needed time to get settled.
“I will demand the world of our new commissioner,” he said at one point, “but I also will give her a little bit of time.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
