For residents and workers on Manhattan’s West Side, it has begun to feel like an endless cycle of sweep-and-return.
A sprawling homeless encampment near the Intrepid Museum that has frustrated the neighborhood for months has been cleared by city crews more than once — only to reappear again along the busy stretch.
“It’s awful,” said one local employee whose company recently relocated nearby. “I wish they weren’t right here. I’ve watched the city clear them out a few times, and then they come back.”
“They’re there every day, and it’s a really tough situation,” he continued. “We just moved here, and it’s been difficult. One of my coworkers doesn’t even want to come into the office because they don’t feel safe. I don’t think anyone really does. It’s hard to feel comfortable.”
Tourists have noticed the problem too. A family visiting from Toronto instinctively moved to protect their young son while walking past one of the makeshift camps.
“You probably saw that I kept him kind of behind me when the guy walked by,” one parent said. “It wasn’t the first time we’d seen something like that, and it doesn’t seem that unusual here.”
The Post first reported in June on the grim encampment stretching across roughly 12 city blocks, where tents and improvised shelters crowded sidewalks used by both visitors and New Yorkers. Some setups reportedly contained stolen items, while alleged makeshift brothels and drug activity operated openly during the day.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration faced criticism for what residents saw as a delayed response, with City Hall policy requiring outreach teams to engage with people at the site for at least a week before police could step in.
The shelters were finally removed, but vagrants just set up camp nearby and later returned — and months later the pattern is still playing out, frustrating legit residents and workers.
One large shantytown on West 46th Street near an Amazon warehouse was finally cleared, workers there said Monday — but the sidewalk squatters simply moved to 45th and 47th streets and started again.
“They kept saying, ‘You have to leave, you have to leave,’” said Liam James, one of the regulars at the homeless encampment. “It was both the police and sanitation, and they offer you a place to stay after they do. But the thing is that they want to throw everything away.”
James said he was put in a temporary apartment by the city, but said he misses the streets and his friends, who he said have become like family.
“I wouldn’t mind sleeping in my apartment if I had anyone around me,” he said. “But I think that being alone going through this, it’s really difficult. You don’t have your friends or family.”
Jahsor Banks, another shantytown regular, said he doesn’t fault the city for “doing their job,” but said that, “after staying with the people for so long, it’s like you got a bond.”
