The bitter cold and winter storm hitting New York this weekend impacted people like Claudia, who huddled inside a blanket-filled tent near Gramercy Park and braved the elements Saturday.
Claudia is 29 years old and originally hails from East Harlem, but has been on and off the street since she was 17. She told amNewYork that she is preparing for the aftermath of the winter storm, since she says it will be far too cold to remain on the street.
For the past month, despite January’s frigid temperatures, she says she has been able to keep warm by covering her tent in fabric and sharing it with others who have found themselves homeless.
“We put a lot of blankets and use long candles. This tent used to be twice the size, but we downsized it a lot because of the cold — it works well,” said Claudia, who did not give amNewYork her last name. “Last night, we were very warm until my friend Ivan went out to work, and it woke us all up.”
Claudia shared that she usually splits the tent with at least two others to stay warm; however, she says her group has conceded that the snow will be too much for them to bear.
“My street brother, Hank, right now, he’s out panhandling so we can afford a room tonight to get out of the cold,” Claudia said.
Panhandling in the cold is not easy for Claudia, who is an amputee and is missing the lower portion of her left leg. She gets around in a wheelchair she keeps close to her encampment. According to her, she had gotten ill and was discharged early from the hospital when the accident occurred.
“This past April, I actually got hit by a train at Grand Street station. Hospitals don’t really treat us very well, honestly. As soon as my eyes were a little open, they were like, bye, see ya. Even though I was supposed to be admitted for 24 hours. Basically, I was over-tired and couldn’t really see the train coming in. I got up from the bench and started walking, and I just took one step too far,” Claudia said.
The homeless woman acknowledged that life has not been easy for her. She admitted she has previously had struggles with substance abuse, which she says led her to being evicted from her conservative and religious parents when she was still a teen.
Currently, her husband is being held on Rikers Island for what she said was a misdemeanor — she says he will be released early next month.
She has also often been on the move due to the homeless encampment sweeps first implemented by former Mayor Eric Adams. Although Mayor Zohran Mamdani has stated he is not likely to continue this policy, Claudia feels that, in some ways, the sweep actually helps some encampments from getting out of hand.
“It can get to a point where it gets bad, like Skid Row-type areas. That’s when more issues come into play where people are stealing, and there are a lot of drug users who come out,” Claudia said. “When I was younger, I was on the West Coast in LA, and Skid Row there is scary. So, situations like that, it’s not great.”
