Here in New York, Mayor Eric Adams is continuing his controversial plan to clear encampments in the city where unhoused people have taken shelter. On Wednesday, New York police arrested six activists and an unhoused man after a seven-hour standoff at one encampment in the East Village of Manhattan. Residents of the small encampment demanded the city provide actual housing to those in need.

Johnny Grima: “We need apartments. We don’t need temporary housing. We need apartments now, apartment studios now. … There’s more than 100,000 children homeless in New York City for the sixth year in a row, man. It’s disgusting, bro. All right? I was in a family shelter when I was 17 years old, man. You guys destroy people’s lives, man.”

New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman said, “The Mayor’s attempt to police away homelessness and sweep individuals out of sight is a page from the failed Giuliani playbook. With no real plan for housing, services, or supports, the administration is choosing handcuffs.”