NYC Adds $25 Million for Winter Homeless Outreach After 18 Cold Deaths

What happened

Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced $25 million in new funding for the city's Code Blue cold-weather response at a press conference on Monday, 11/09/2026, as reported by City Limits and Gothamist. Code Blue is run by the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) and starts when temperatures drop below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. City Limits says this applies to overnight temperatures. The City Limits feed summary said officials announced the plan on Friday, but its article text and Gothamist both say Monday.

The money will pay for 300 more outreach workers, including nurses, and 800 more low-barrier shelter beds. Low-barrier beds have fewer entry requirements and looser rules than typical city shelters. Officials told City Limits these beds will be in single and double rooms. Gothamist reported that DHS will also open four more warming centers and deploy 20 warming buses. It also reported that more than 50 mobile vans run by the city's public hospital system will provide medical care and rides to warming facilities.

Outreach is changing too. In past winters, teams focused on a list of about 350 known street homeless New Yorkers. Department of Social Services Commissioner Erin Dalton, who oversees DHS, said teams usually found only about 15 percent of the people on that list on a given night. This winter, teams will canvass streets, encampments, parks and subway steps and engage every vulnerable person they meet. Dalton said DHS tested this approach during summer heat waves and reached more than 20 times as many people on a given day as the summer before. The plan also includes faster snow clearing, new snow blowers for bus stops and crosswalks, and more sanitation snow routes on Staten Island, according to Gothamist.

The move follows last winter's extreme cold. City Limits reported that at least 18 people died, including several unhoused residents. Gothamist reported that more than two dozen people died outdoors or in their homes. VOCAL-NY called the changes smart but long overdue. The group urged more city-funded rental vouchers and supportive affordable housing. Housing Works CEO Charles King told City Limits that moving people into permanent housing is the ideal.