Mamdani said his administration will handle public encampments differently from Mayor Eric Adams, with extra emphasis on engaging street homeless individuals to direct them to services and housing. But advocates condemned any use of sweeps, calling them “inhumane” and futile.

New Yorkers experiencing homelessness who were camping out on a Lower Manhattan sidewalk in 2021 near Tompkins Square Park, where officials later carried out a cleanup. (Adi Talwar/City Limits)

For the second straight week, Mayor Zohran Mamdani is under fire from advocates who accuse him of changing course on homelessness policies.

The mayor announced Wednesday that the city would resume homeless encampment clean ups, known as “sweeps,” a practice he’d previously vowed to stop. He paused the practice in January, saying he wanted to develop his own approach to street homelessness.

Mamdani said that the key difference between how his administration will handle public encampments and Mayor Eric Adams’ approach—which he called a “failure”—is an emphasis on engaging street homeless individuals to direct them to services and housing.

He said that the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) would take the lead, not the Police Department (NYPD), and that outreach staff will make daily visits to encampments for a week before removing anyone, an effort to build trust and convince those who are wary of the shelter system to come indoors. 

“Not only will this work be housed in a different agency, but the work itself is far different,” said Mamdani at an unrelated press conference Wednesday.

But advocates for the homeless condemned reintroducing sweeps at all, saying the approach only terrorizes street homeless people rather than helps them. 

“There’s no new version of sweeps or a better version of sweeps,” said Marcus Moore, who was street homeless prior to the pandemic and is now an organizer with Safety Net Activists. “Sweeps does not help anybody.”

Mamdani’s new policy comes after his decision last week to hold up the expansion of the city’s housing voucher program known as CityFHEPS due to budget concerns.

“Like Mayor Mamdani’s pledge to expand CityFHEPS, his pledge to discontinue homeless sweeps is another broken promise,” said the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless in a joint statement.

Mamdani’s approach to the sweeps will go something like this:

On day one, DHS will place notices on encampment sites saying that the location will be cleaned by the Sanitation Department (DSNY) seven days later

Each day after, DHS outreach staff will go to the site and engage the people there to offer shelter placements or other services

On day seven, DSNY will clean up the site, with NYPD on hand if the situation escalates

A flyer near Tompkins Square Park in 2021 notifying homeless New Yorkers about a planned city “clean up,” of the site. ((Adi Talwar/City Limits)

City Hall said the mayor’s preliminary budget includes additional funding for homeless street outreach to facilitate the policy, with $31 million for DHS and $11.9 million for NYC Health + Hospitals’ support.

But homeless advocacy groups said they see little difference between Mamdani’s plan and those of past city leaders. While the NYPD led encampment sweeps during the Adams administration, Mayor Bill de Blasio also centered DHS outreach workers, with similarly poor results, critics say.

“These sweeps failed on multiple fronts: they were inhumane, stripping unhoused New Yorkers of their few belongings and eroding trust in city services, and they were ineffective, doing little more than pushing people out of sight,” Legal Aid and the Coalition for the Homeless said in a statement.

City Hall said that the seven days of “relentless” engagement makes their approach unique. 

But resistance to entering shelter, Moore said, is not about how many times people receive outreach services, but what the city actually offers those it wants to come inside. Many unhoused New Yorkers have cited concerns about safety and poor conditions in city shelters, especially large congregate facilities. “If all you can offer them is kind of a shelter and dehumanize them, that’s not good enough,” said Moore.

City Hall said that they made over 1,400 placements to shelters and Safe Havens—sites with more privacy and fewer restrictions than traditional shelters—during the recent cold snap. They also opened a new 106-bed Safe Haven shelter in lower Manhattan on Feb 3.

But Moore was disappointed in the administration for resuming the sweeps. “That’s the same talk and philosophy that I’d been hearing when I was actually out there,” he said. “Same script, different time, different year.”

Here’s what else happened in housing this week —

ICYMI, from City Limits:

Gov. Hochul wants to expand eligibility that freezes rents for seniors and people with disabilities, offsetting the costs with tax breaks. But advocates and tenants themselves say more reforms are needed to ensure the programs actually help those who need it, citing a low uptake rate and stagnant enrollment.

A workforce training program in Queens teaches immigrants more than how to get a job, helping them navigate the city’s rental market, public transit system and other how-tos of life in New York.

ICYMI, from other local newsrooms:

Mamdani unveiled his first preliminary budget proposal this week, where he reiterated his call for the state to raise taxes on the wealthy—and if it doesn’t, he said, the city would pursue a property tax hike “as a last resort” to plug its budget deficient, City & State reports.

A court has temporarily halted NYCHA’s plan to demolish and rebuild the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses, as it reviews a lawsuit filed by a group of tenants looking to block the controversial plan, The City reports.

The Mamdani administration will close the city’s last remaining emergency migrant shelter by the end of the year, Gothamist reports.

The mayor appointed a slew of new members this week the city’s Rent Guidelines Board, as he seeks to fulfill his campaign pledge to freeze rents for tenants in stabilized units across the city, NY1 reports.

To reach the reporter behind this story, contact Patrick@citylimits.org. To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org

Want to republish this story? Find City Limits’ reprint policy here.

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If the U.S. women’s curling team wins the program’s first medal this weekend, it will be bronze. A win, to be sure, but a disappointment for Team Peterson.

After edging Switzerland in the 11th end on Thursday to advance to the Olympic semifinals for the first time, Team USA found itself on the other end of a rematch on Friday, losing 6-4 in regulation.

United States Taylor Anderson-Heide, left, and Cory Thiesse compete against Switzerland during the curling women’s semifinal match at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

U.S. skip Tabitha Peterson got the U.S. a point with her hammer throw in the ninth end to pull the Americans to within 5-4 heading into the final end, and placed her final throw inside the 4-foot ring.

But Swiss skip Alina Paetz, continuing a stellar games performance, knocked it out with the hammer, and scored a point in the process, to send Team Switzerland into Saturday’s gold medal session against Sweden.

Team Peterson, which also includes Tara Peterson, Cory Thiesse and Taylor Anderson-Heide, will battle Canada for bronze Saturday at 7:05 a.m. CST.

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By JUAN A. LOZANO

HOUSTON (AP) — U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas claimed Thursday he was being “blackmailed” following a report he allegedly had an affair with a former staffer who later died.

The claim by the married Republican congressman comes after the San Antonio Express-News reported that it had obtained text messages in which the former staffer, Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, wrote to a colleague that she had an affair with the lawmaker.

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The Associated Press has not independently obtained copies of the messages. On Thursday, an attorney for Adrian Aviles, Santos-Aviles’ husband, said the husband had found out about the affair prior to his wife’s death.

A spokesperson and an attorney for Gonzales, who is running for reelection in Texas’ March 3 primary, did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment. On social media, the congressman posted a partial screenshot of an email from the husband’s attorney and accused him of seeking money.

“I WILL NOT BE BLACKMAILED,” Gonzales wrote in a post on the social media site X on Thursday. “Disgusting to see people profit politically and financially off a tragic death.”

In the email posted by Gonzales, attorney Robert Barrera discussed a possible lawsuit against the lawmaker and a potential settlement with a nondisclosure agreement. The email says that the maximum recoverable amount is $300,000.

Barrera denied he was trying to blackmail Gonzales.

“It is a desperate attempt to make him look again like a political victim,” Barrera told The AP in a phone interview on Thursday. “There’s no blackmail here. I mean, it’s just ridiculous allegations.”

Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, 35, died in September 2025. The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office later ruled her death as a suicide.

Gonzales, whose district stretches from San Antonio to El Paso and runs along the U.S.-Mexico border, has six children with his wife

According to Barrera, the email that Gonzales posted online was part of back-and-forth discussions he had been having with the lawmaker’s attorney after Aviles decided he wanted to recover damages through a potential lawsuit on behalf of his wife under the Congressional Accountability Act.

The act provides legal protection for employees in the legislative branch against harassment, discrimination or retaliation.

Barrera claimed that after discovery of the alleged affair, Gonzales retaliated against Santos-Aviles by dramatically restricting her job duties and privileges and restricting her job advancement.

Gonzales has been endorsed by President Donald Trump and is facing a primary challenge from Brandon Herrera, who narrowly lost to Gonzales in 2024. Herrera has called on Gonzales to resign in wake of the report.

In a statement to the Texas Tribune this week, Gonzales called Santos-Aviles “a kind soul who devoted her life to making the community a better place.” He went on to say he would not “engage in these personal smears and instead will remain focused on helping President Trump secure the border and improve the lives of all Texans.”

Barrera said his client wants the lawmaker to acknowledge the alleged affair.

“There’s nothing political here. There’s no demand for him to resign. That’s up to the voters of that district, whether they want a man like Tony Gonzales to lead them into the future,” Barrera said.

EDITOR’S NOTE — In the U.S., the national suicide and crisis lifeline is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org

Follow Juan A. Lozano: https://x.com/juanlozano70

The year I turned 7 has blurred in my mind the way old photographs fade and fray at the edges.

We had just moved to Mabank in the thick of “white flight,” though I wouldn’t understand that phrase until much later. Life here, an hour southeast of Dallas, felt small-town simple: penny candy at Hughey’s Department Store, matinees at the Matex Theatre, teachers leading us down the sidewalk in our “tennie” shoes to whatever film they decided was worth a lesson. On special days, we clutched nickels and headed to Hughey’s counter, overwhelmed by glass jars of jelly beans and chocolate balls.

But it wasn’t the candy or the matinee that stuck with me. It was the sight of Snow.

Market Street (Desiree Rios for the Texas Observer)

I knew him only as Snow, though I can’t rightly recall if he introduced himself that way. Turns out his real name was F.C. Brown. I saw it in the library record, scribbled in somebody’s hand: born in 1891 in Henderson, left behind as a child, raised up by his grandparents. Later, he was reunited with his mother here in Mabank.

He worked where the dead were—digging graves, clearing cemeteries—and when he wasn’t working, he was parked on a wooden bench or a windowsill along Market Street, water jug beside him, boots set firm as though they’d never move.

When I was 7, he was ancient. He didn’t seem tied to a house or a family. 

What I know for certain is this: The first time I ever heard the word “slavery,” it came from Snow. It had never been taught in school, never been spoken of in my house. I didn’t know what it meant, only that it was serious and true. And it stamped itself on me.

One afternoon, he told us the story of Juneteenth. I had never heard the word before; my brow furrowed. He said it was the day his grandparents were freed. “Free from what?” He looked at me a long beat, then said it plain.

In my memory, he spoke in a low, deliberate way, so all us kids would gather round a little closer. He wore striped overalls, his legs crossed at the knee, hands balanced easily on his walking stick. I’m told he always had a newspaper in his hand, but I don’t remember that.

Back then, almost no one talked about Juneteenth. Not teachers. Not preachers. Not even the history books we held in our hands. Today, thanks to Texas’ own Opal Lee, Juneteenth is carved into the calendar, a federal holiday with parades and proclamations. But in 1970s Mabank, the only reason I knew the word at all was because Snow spoke it into the open air.

The world tilted for me then. My parents had salted every meal with the N-word, casual and cruel. While I was too young to understand the weight of that term, I knew even then that it was wrong.

Yet, here was a man the whole town gathered around, teaching truth to children. Snow was the first person who ever tickled my conscience, the first voice that told me what I’d been taught at home wasn’t the whole story. 

The portrait of F.C. “Snow” Brown inside the library in Mabank (Desiree Rios for the Texas Observer)

Years later, when I was writing for the Texas Observer and other publications, my mind could still see Snow sitting there. I wasn’t reporting from some Austin newsroom; I was writing from the kitchen table, or pulling over on the shoulder of some two-lane road to scribble notes before they got away from me. I drove all over East Texas chasing stories nobody else wanted.

I wrote about Annie Ray Dixon, an 84-year-old Black woman shot dead in her own bed when a drug task force botched a raid in Tyler (they meant to hit the house next door). I covered the day Dallas bulldozed the makeshift homes of the homeless under the I-45 bridge so the Cotton Bowl would look prettier for the World Cup. I traced the story of Bobby Frank Cherry, the Mabank man the FBI arrested and convicted of bombing the 16th Street Baptist Church in Montgomery, where four little girls died in Sunday dresses. And I met Lee, who carried Juneteenth into the national light.

Every time I filed one of those stories, I thought of Snow. He was the first to show me that history wasn’t past at all. It lived in the choices people made in front of me, the injustices that carried the same old smell no matter how they tried to perfume them. I carried those lessons into courtrooms thick with lies, shotgun shacks sagging under poverty, city halls that reeked of power and mildew.

One day, Snow was gone.

No announcement, no obituary that I ever saw. His pew sat empty. I suppose it wasn’t his fault. I grew up; he grew old. And we both moved on.

But his memory lingers yet, quietly threaded into the fabric of Mabank. What’s left now is a painting Don Ray did back when he was still a lawyer in town. Later, he’d be known as a successful artist in New York. He finished the portrait in 1976, just as Juneteenth was gathering steam in Texas again. That can’t be a coincidence. It feels more like a nod—setting Snow down on Market Street as part of the state’s story.

Today, the painting hangs in the town’s library. Children drift past it without knowing his name. Adults nod at it without remembering his voice.

Sometimes, I stand before the painting, listening for his echo.

Brown’s grave (Desiree Rios for the Texas Observer)

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