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

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

The post Remembering the Unhoused New Yorkers Who Lost Their Lives in 2025 appeared first on City Limits.

By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration said Monday it is pausing leases for five large-scale offshore wind projects under construction along the East Coast due to what it said were national security risks identified by the Pentagon.

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The pause, effective immediately, is the latest step the administration has taken to hobble offshore wind in its push against renewable energy sources. It comes two weeks after a federal judge struck down President Donald Trump’s executive order blocking wind energy projects, calling it unlawful.

The administration said the pause will give the Interior Department, which oversees offshore wind, time to work with the Defense Department and other agencies to assess the possible ways to mitigate any security risks posed by the projects.

“The prime duty of the United States government is to protect the American people,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement. “Today’s action addresses emerging national security risks, including the rapid evolution of the relevant adversary technologies, and the vulnerabilities created by large-scale offshore wind projects with proximity near our east coast population centers.”

The statement did not detail the national security risks.

Wind proponents slammed the move, saying it was another blow by the administration against clean energy.

The administration said leases are paused for the Vineyard Wind project under construction in Massachusetts, Revolution Wind in Rhode Island and Connecticut, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, and two projects in New York: Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind.

The Interior Department said unclassified reports from the U.S. government have long found that the movement of massive turbine blades and the highly reflective towers create radar interference called “clutter.” The clutter caused by offshore wind projects obscures legitimate moving targets and generates false targets in the vicinity of wind projects, the Interior Department said.

National security expert and former Commander of the USS Cole Kirk Lippold said the projects were awarded permits “following years of review by state and federal agencies,” including the Coast Guard, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, the Air Force and more.

“The record of decisions all show that the Department of Defense was consulted at every stage of the permitting process,” he said, arguing that the projects would benefit national security because they would diversify the country’s energy supply.

The action comes two weeks after a federal judge struck down Trump’s executive order blocking wind energy projects, saying the effort to halt virtually all leasing of wind farms on federal lands and waters was “arbitrary and capricious” and violates U.S. law.

Judge Patti Saris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts vacated Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order blocking wind energy projects and declared it unlawful.

Saris ruled in favor of a coalition of state attorneys general from 17 states and Washington, D.C., led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, that challenged Trump’s Day One order that paused leasing and permitting for wind energy projects.

Trump has been hostile to renewable energy, particularly offshore wind, and prioritizes fossil fuels to produce electricity.

Wind supporters called the administration’s actions illegal and said offshore wind provides some of the most affordable, reliable electric power to the grid.

“For nearly a year, the Trump administration has recklessly obstructed the build-out of clean, affordable power for millions of Americans, just as the country’s need for electricity is surging,” said Ted Kelly of the Environmental Defense Fund.

“Now the administration is again illegally blocking clean, affordable energy,” Kelly said. “We should not be kneecapping America’s largest source of renewable power, especially when we need more cheap, homegrown electricity.”

The administration’s actions are especially egregious because, at the same time, it is propping up aging, expensive coal plants “that barely work and pollute our air,” Kelly said.

The Conservation Law Foundation, a Boston-based environmental group, called the pause “a desperate rerun of the Trump administration’s failed attempt to kill offshore wind,” noting that courts have already rejected the administration’s arguments.

“Trying again to halt these projects tramples on the rule of law, threatens jobs and deliberately sabotages a critical industry that strengthens — not weakens — America’s energy security,” said Kate Sinding Daly, senior vice president for law and policy at the law foundation.

By DAMIAN J. TROISE, Associated Press Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rose in morning trading on Wall Street Monday at the start of what’s expected to be a quiet holiday week.

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The S&P 500 rose 0.4% and is just below the all-time high it set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 130 points, or 0.3%, as of 10:03 a.m. Eastern time. The Nasdaq composite climbed 0.6%.

The broader market eked out a slight gain last week in what has been a choppy month. Technology companies, especially those focused on artificial intelligence, have been the main force behind the market’s oscillations.

The gains on Monday were broad, with technology companies and banks leading the way. JPMorgan Chase rose 1% and Nvidia rose 1.2%.

Uber rose 3.3% and Lyft rose 5% after announcing plans to bring robotaxi services to London next year.

Gold and silver touched records and oil prices jumped after the U.S. Coast Guard said it was pursuing another sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean.

Gold prices rose 1.6% and are hovering around $4,458 per ounce, adding to their consistent gains throughout the year. Silver prices were up about 2.5%.

Crude oil prices in the U.S. rose 2.4% and prices for Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 2.3%.

Markets in Asia gained ground while markets in Europe slipped.

Markets in the U.S. will close early on Wednesday for Christmas Eve and remain closed on Thursday for Christmas. The short week for trading includes several economic reports that could shed more light on the condition and direction of the U.S. economy.

On Tuesday, the government releases the first of three estimates on gross domestic product, a reflection of how the broader U.S. economy fared in the third quarter. On Wednesday, the Labor Department will release its weekly data on applications for jobless benefits, which stands as a proxy for U.S. layoffs.

The Conference Board offers up results from its December consumer confidence survey on Tuesday as well.

Elaine Kurtenbach and Matt Ott contributed to this story.

By DAVID BAUDER, Associated Press Media Writer

CBS News’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday didn’t air a planned story on Trump administration deportations of immigrants to El Salvador, pulling it only hours before airtime at the direction of new editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.

FILE – The CBS logo at the entrance to its headquarters, in New York Dec. 6, 2018. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

The story, where correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi spoke to deportees who had been sent to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison, was held because Weiss sought to add perspective from the Trump administration, according to people at the network.

In an email sent to some colleagues and reported by multiple media outlets, Alfonsi said she’d learned on Saturday that Weiss had decided not to air it. She said her story was factually correct and cleared by CBS attorneys and news standards officials. “In my view, pulling it now — after every rigorous internal check has been met is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.”

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The shift, publicly announced two hours before the broadcast aired, is sure to increase scrutiny on Weiss, the founder of the Free Press website who was installed at the top of CBS News this fall when its parent company, Paramount, was bought out.

President Donald Trump has been sharply critical of “60 Minutes.” He sued the network last fall over its interview with election opponent Kamala Harris, which was settled this summer, and recently complained about the show’s interview with former ally turned foe Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Weiss told The New York Times in a statement: “My job is to make sure that all the stories we publish are the best they can be. Holding stories that aren’t ready for whatever reason — that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices — happens every day in every newsroom.”

She said she looked forward to airing Alfonsi’s piece “when it’s ready.”