Crime Surges As NYC Homeless Encampment Sprawls Across 12 Blocks

A crime-ridden homeless encampment in New York City expanded to twelve blocks of Manhattan’s West Side, where drugs, prostitution, and theft are rampant.

The multi-block eyesore of tents and temporary shelters stretches from 34th Street to 46th Street along 11th Avenue near the Intrepid Museum, according to the New York Post. The encampment continues to be a growing concern for many residents who have not seen any change or enforcement.

“We can’t get rid of them,” said a city parks enforcement officer on Sunday. “These ones here are stealing everything. They stole our key for the hose. They stole our ladder. They take what they can. And there are escorts in there too. Prostitutes. I see them, they’re right there.”

The NYPD is no longer authorized to clear homeless encampments under new measures enacted by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration. The Department of Homeless Services was supposed to manage the encampment sweeps, but has yet to do so, according to the Post.

Theft flourishes in the encampment as homeless vagrants display expensive electronics and relax on stolen furniture. Broadway theater lights and even upscale telescopes are flaunted, the Post reports. Prostitution and drug peddling also run rampant throughout the tents and grimy public restrooms in broad daylight.

“It stinks,” said a maintenance worker from the nearby Jacob Javits Center. “They were setting up in the park at 3 this morning and it’s just too much. It’s getting bad again, very bad.”

“We kicked them out, now they’re over here,” he said. “One thing is for sure though, there are more today than there were last month, that’s for sure.”

Mamdani’s handling of the homelessness crisis has been under scrutiny after he promised to take a more humane approach to homelessness. A vagrant called Mamdani “awesome” for stopping police sweeps and permitting the lawless encampment to continue. 

“The scariest parts are on 36th and 37th right now,” said a supervisor from the Javits Center. “It’s just heroin addicts.”

City records showed that calls to the 311 number to complain about vagrants in the area increased from 40 calls in 2025 to 48 in 2026, according to The Post.

The records revealed that so far this year, 28 of the 48 calls were for homeless people in need of help. The other 20 calls were about the 12-block encampment. Thirty calls were received in June and eight in July.

“Most people would agree that leaving people on the street indefinitely isn’t compassion, it’s neglect,” said Steve Fulop, the president and CEO for the nonprofit Partnership for the City of New York. “We’ve seen in cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco that letting encampments grow unchecked fails the homeless and erodes quality of life for everyone else.”

Cristyne Nicholas, chair of the New York State Tourism Advisory Council, said the encampment “doesn’t put New York tourism in a positive light.”

“Tourists are forced to walk around squalor and stench,” she said. “We want visitors to feel safe and welcome.”