At least ten people died from exposure to extreme cold in New York City since late Friday, as temperatures plummeted to 9 degrees Fahrenheit and raised questions about the city’s preparedness to protect its most vulnerable residents. The victims, several of whom were believed to be homeless, were found in different locations across the five boroughs — on park benches in Queens, steps from a Manhattan hospital, and beneath an elevated train line in the Bronx. At least six of the deaths occurred early Saturday, when the temperature in the city fell to minus 13 degrees Celsius.
The deaths highlight longstanding gaps between the city’s shelter system and its emergency protocols during extreme weather. Studies show approximately 15 cold-related deaths occur in New York City annually. The concentrated loss of at least ten people in a single Arctic blast has prompted city officials and homeless advocates to confront whether the government mobilized adequately before a potentially lethal storm.
Government Response
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the city was expanding homeless outreach, opening warming centers, and instructing hospitals to limit discharges to ensure that people who have nowhere to go are kept indoors. “Extreme weather is not a personal failure, but it is a public responsibility,” he said on Tuesday. “We are mobilizing every resource at our disposal to ensure that New Yorkers are brought indoors during this potentially lethal weather event.”
The causes of death remain under investigation, though some victims showed signs of hypothermia. The city has released no names of those who died.
Discharge at Issue
A 52-year-old man originally from Ecuador was found Sunday morning on a park bench in Queens with discharge papers from Elmhurst Hospital, a city-run facility, dated Friday. According to State Senator Jessica Ramos, the man was wearing only a thin jacket when police found him frozen under a layer of snow.
The discharge came after the city had activated Code Blue protocols, which are designed to ensure homeless patients are not released back onto the street during extreme weather. It was not immediately clear whether the man had been living outside at the time of his death. City Hall, the Department of Homeless Services, and the city’s public hospital system did not respond to requests for comment.
Ramos said the case raised questions about city preparedness. “It’s devastating to know the government could have done more and didn’t,” she said. “There are real questions here that demand answers.”
Shelter System Concerns
Homeless advocates said the surge in deaths reflects deeper problems in the shelter system itself. David Giffen, executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless, said the city needs to improve conditions inside shelters to encourage homeless people to accept beds. “It’s not that most of the people on the streets are unaware of the shelter system, but that they’ve had experiences there that make them not want to return.”
Social services commissioner Molly Wasow Park said at least 200 people had voluntarily accepted shelter since the storm began. The city also involuntarily hospitalized a handful of people, including those who were wet, inappropriately dressed, or unable to acknowledge that there are real dangers.
In the lead-up to the storm, city-contracted outreach teams fanned out across the five boroughs, attempting to place residents in shelters, transitional housing, or heated buses. The city said it was continuing those efforts as frigid weather persisted.
On average, about 15 people die from cold in New York City each year. This storm claimed ten in just days. Giffen and other advocates have long argued that the city’s shelter system cannot be improved through outreach alone—that addressing the poor conditions inside shelters that lead people to refuse beds is essential to saving lives.