NYC Mayor's Office announces $25 million winter response expansion, upgrades to snow removal
Under the new plan, more than 300 additional canvassers will follow walking and driving routes through areas where homeless New Yorkers are known to stay.
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New York City is expanding its cold-weather outreach and upgrading snow removal operations ahead of winter, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Monday.
The plan includes $25 million for an expanded Code Blue system, adding outreach workers, mobile medical teams and warming locations across the five boroughs. Officials say resources will increase based on the severity of winter conditions.
The announcement follows last winter’s deadly cold snap. News 12 reported that at least 18 people had died outdoors as of Feb. 10, prompting a City Council oversight hearing on the city’s response.
Under the new plan, more than 300 additional canvassers will follow walking and driving routes through areas where homeless New Yorkers are known to stay. Up to 55 mobile medical units will offer care and transportation to warming centers and other safe locations.
The city also plans to add 800 shelter beds in more than 600 single- and double-occupancy rooms.
During the most severe weather, the Department of Homeless Services will activate eight drop-in centers, four new warming centers and 20 warming buses. NYC Health + Hospitals will open at least three hospitals as warming centers, expanding to all 11 at the highest response level.
“No New Yorker should face the dangers of winter alone, and no part of our city should be left behind,” Mamdani said.
The Department of Sanitation is also preparing additional equipment to clear streets, bus stops and crosswalks, with a focus on accessibility for older adults and people with disabilities.
The agency says it has more than 2,200 vehicles ready to be converted into snowplows, more than 700 salt spreaders and 7,000 uniformed workers trained for snow clearing. It has also acquired 120 snow blowers, upgraded hundreds of plow blades and registered more than 3,000 emergency snow shovelers.
The winter plan includes changes to how the city handles heating complaints. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development says it will respond to every heat complaint individually, instead of grouping complaints from multiple apartments in the same building and closing them when the first is resolved.
NYCHA says it has completed maintenance and inspections across its heating infrastructure and invested more than $121 million in heating upgrades at four developments since last winter.
Residents with unresolved heat or hot water problems can call 311. New Yorkers can sign up for emergency alerts by texting NOTIFYNYC to 692-692.
