Along Twelfth Avenue beside the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, tents and tarps now line the riverfront blocks of West 45th and West 46th Streets, forming a persistent encampment that neighbors say is impossible to overlook. Joggers, tourists and a nearby food-cart operator describe weaving around piles of bicycles, electronics and garbage while people live in makeshift shelters. The stretch has turned into a neighborhood flashpoint as residents, small businesses and city officials weigh outreach against removal.
As reported by the New York Post, the encampments sit on the west side of Twelfth Avenue around West 45th and West 46th Streets, with tents, tarps and bins of discarded items visible from the river. The Post quoted residents and people staying there, including a man identified as James Bilis who said he has been on the streets for five years, and reported that trash pickups at the site happen on a limited schedule. The article also states that multiple complaints were logged with the NYPD and the Department of Human Services in early July 2026 about the block.
Mayor’s outreach-first shift
The Mamdani administration has moved away from routine police-led sweeps and toward a model that prioritizes daily outreach and housing placement by the Department of Homeless Services. According to the Mayor's Office, the city’s Block by Block housing plan emphasizes permanent placements and supportive services as the long-term response to street homelessness. Local reporting notes the administration paused earlier clearing practices in January and has stressed outreach as the preferred immediate tactic. News 12 covered the mayor’s comments about Department of Homeless Services oversight of sweeps.
Neighbors and vendors push back
People who live and work nearby say the hands-off approach has real consequences for business and safety. A food-cart vendor told the New York Post he has lost customers and has repeatedly called 311 and 911 about the encampment, while a security guard said joggers sometimes have to step over tents on their route. Other residents interviewed by the Post praised the mayor’s emphasis on services, even as some community members said they want stronger enforcement to keep sidewalks clear.
How city agencies are responding
City officials say outreach teams are engaging with people living on the street and that sanitation crews perform targeted trash pickups rather than wholesale removals. CBS New York found multiple encampments in Hell’s Kitchen and reported that neighbors had been filing 311 complaints about the stretch around West 45th Street; those calls are part of how the city prioritizes responses. A recent City Council hearing on street cleanliness also discussed DSNY’s “precision cleaning” work and other targeted sanitation tools that can be used when encampments are prioritized for cleanup.
What to watch
For now the tents remain in place while outreach and scheduled sanitation pickups continue, and neighbors say they will keep pressing the city for answers. The situation highlights the tension between immediate street-level cleanup and the longer-term housing and services the mayor’s plan promises. Officials say Block by Block aims to reduce visible homelessness over time, but advocates and residents say the difference will be measured block by block.
