An annual vigil honors the New Yorkers who died living on the streets and in the city’s shelters. “Every life lost to homelessness was preventable,” the event’s organizers said. “People do not die because they lack resilience or will.”
Urban Pathways and Care for the Homeless hosted the 2025 Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Manhattan on Dec. 18. (Adi Talwar/City Limits)
The bell rang 380 times. Between each chime a name was read. After, a candle was lit.
All 380 people honored died this year. All 380 were homeless.
Held around the winter solstice each year, this December observance remembers New Yorkers who experienced homelessness and lost their lives—on the street, in shelters, or shortly after they moved into housing. The ceremony, which assembles unhoused residents, service providers, and officials, casts light on the struggles that homeless New Yorkers face in hopes that the city can do better.
“Every life lost to homelessness was preventable. People do not die because they lack resilience or will,” said representatives for the Supportive Housing Network of New York, Care For the Homeless, and Urban Pathways, three groups who organize the event, in statement.
“They die because of policy choices—because safe and affordable housing was treated as a privilege rather than a right; because health care access is fragmented; because our safety net systems failed to catch them in time; and because our collective response failed to match the scale of the need.”
Being poor and unstably housed is bad for a person’s health. The homeless are more likely to experience health problems, and have shorter life expectancies.
“We refuse to let their deaths be forgotten or dismissed as inevitable,” added the event’s organizers, in their statement.
A wall of remembrance for those honored at Thursday’s ceremony. (Adi Talwar/City Limits)
The list of names is crowdsourced by shelter staff and clients who submit them. Those lost ranged in age, from as young as 24 to as old as 87. Some were remembered by their first name, a nickname, or a note about how they lived.
Frank Garcia played guitar. James Coaxum enjoyed pastrami sandwiches and listening to his handheld radio. Charleton Davis left behind two sons.
The 380 remembered Thursday evening were just a fraction of the New Yorkers who died experiencing homelessness.
The number of unhoused who died in New York City spiked to 613 in 2021. Each year since has set a new high, with 887 unhoused New Yorkers dying between July 2023 and June 2024, the most recent period for which data is available.
Drugs, disease, and poor health ended the lives of many unhoused, according to the city’s latest mortality report. Sixteen died by suicide.
“Each person we remember today was more than the circumstances that surrounded their passing. They were individuals with histories, relationships, dreams and purpose. They were loved,” said Department of Social Services Commissioner Molly Park, who oversees the city’s shelter system.
Some of those honored eventually found housing, but years of poor health from living on the streets and in shelters caught up with them.
Among those eulogized at the event was Jimmy Vargas, who died a month after he moved into supportive housing this fall. (Adi Talwar/City Limits)
Noam Cohen, an organizer with VOCAL-NY, said that he lived with Jimmy Vargas and 21 other roommates together in a Fort Greene, Brooklyn shelter for a year. Vargas died just a month after he moved into supportive housing this October, according to Cohen, who eulogized his friend.
“That’s devastating to me. It’s also given me the courage and the motivation that I need to recommit myself to this fight, to building the base of this movement that’s dedicated to amplifying the stories of people like Jimmy,” said Cohen.
Living on the street can be violent. Twelve New Yorkers experiencing homelessness were killed in homicides in the year that ended last July. In a high profile murder shortly after last year’s memorial, Debrina Kawam was horrifically set on fire in a subway car in Coney Island.
Shivonne Thompson, another New Yorker living unsheltered, was killed violently under an overpass in East Harlem. “Despite her efforts to find safety and stability. She remained on the streets for years, relying on strangers, libraries and the faint hope that she could one day escape homelessness,” said Cynthia English, a board member and advocate with Care for the Homeless, who eulogized Thompson.
A choir performs at the annual Homeless Persons Memorial Day event in Manhattan (Adi Talwar/City Limits)
With the grief came an acknowledgement that the city can and should do better.
The number of people living in city shelters remained high in 2025, at over 100,000, according to City Limits’ shelter tracker. Around 30,000 are asylum seekers.
The Department of Social Services is placing more homeless New Yorkers in subsidized housing with vouchers than ever before—including 32,000 during fiscal year 2025, a 17 percent increase over the prior year, according to the agency.
But Commissioner Park, as well as the advocates gathered Thursday, said there’s still more to be done. “Their lives mattered. Their deaths must move us to act, and their memory calls on us to do better for those still here and for those yet to come,” said Park.
Speakers highlighted the urgent need for services and resources to support the health of unhoused New Yorkers. But more than anything, they highlighted the need for more housing.
Elizabeth Mackey, a leader with VOCAL-NY, read a eulogy at the event. (Adi Talwar/City Limits)
“We really could prevent all of this if they stopped with the red [tape] and the bureaucracy of getting them the voucher,” said Elizabeth Mackey, a leader with VOCAL-NY.
City Limits has previously reported on the difficulty of using city housing vouchers, despite the program’s record enrollment and budget.
“Next year we’re gonna be back here again with more people, and more people, and more people. How much more?” Mackey added.
To reach the reporter behind this story, contact Patrick@citylimits.org. To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org
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