8 people, including several homeless, die in New York City during freeze, snowstorm

Eight people died in New York City during the deep freeze and snowstorm, including several with a history of homelessness, Mayor Zohran Mamdani's office said Monday.

At least 29 have died in afflicted states, The Associated Press reported.

In New York City, six died Friday into Saturday morning, one died overnight Saturday into Sunday morning, and one died overnight Sunday into Monday morning, said Mamdani spokeswoman Dora Pekec.

Mamdani said the city has "an all-hands-on-deck effort" to get homeless people indoors and lamented the deaths.

"I send my deepest condolences to the families and the loved ones of those New Yorkers that lost their lives," he said. "Any loss of life is truly a tragedy."

Those believed to have been homeless had a record with the shelter system or other outreach efforts, he said, although it’s unclear whether the people were homeless at the time of their deaths.

The press office of the FDNY, which runs the city's emergency medical service, did not provide information about the deaths. The NYPD's office didn't respond to a request for comment.

On Friday night, temperatures dropped into the single digits and were below freezing through at least Saturday, when temperatures were in the teens, said Bryan Ramsey, a National Weather Service meteorologist based at Upton. The snowstorm occurred Sunday into Monday, dropping about a foot of snow. Temperatures were expected to stay below freezing through at least next Monday.

The city has implemented its Code Blue protocols through the rest of the week, under which shelter intake rules are eased, and the authorities can force a homeless person out of the elements. Calls to 311 about a homeless person out in the elements are automatically rerouted to 911, Mamdani said.

"This is also a reminder that if anyone sees someone out in the cold, call that number, connect them with services — we don’t want New Yorkers to be out there," he said.

Mamdani said, "Nobody should be out in this kind of cold."

A total of 170 homeless people were brought in voluntarily and involuntarily, most into shelters, Pekec said. Three of the 170 were forced out of the elements and into a hospital emergency room, said Molly Wasow Park, the city social services commissioner.

Wasow Park said authorities will force off the street "an individual who is not appropriately dressed, who is wet, who is unable to acknowledge that there are real dangers ... particularly in this weather."

Even during Code Blue, some homeless people are reluctant to accept a placement, deterred by bad past experiences, a feeling that the facilities are unsafe or unhealthy, onerous regulations, a ban on pets, and an inability to readily accommodate disabilities, said Deborah K. Padgett, a professor at the NYU Silver School of Social Work who has studied barriers to housing the homeless.

“Many of them may have had shelter experience before and are reluctant to experience that again,” she said, even under frigid conditions.

In roughly the last year, about a dozen homeless people have died on Long Island, Newsday reported earlier this month. Neither county had any homeless deaths over the weekend, according to Chris Boyle in Nassau and Mike Martino in Suffolk , although there were three snow-shoveling deaths in Suffolk, Martino said, and, Boyle said, one in Nassau. 

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.