NYC homeless outreach teams working around the clock during frigid stretch, Mayor Mamdani says

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani says outreach crews are working around the clock to get people experiencing homelessness off the streets during this frigid stretch.

He provided a brief update Wednesday morning on the cold-related deaths the city has seen in recent days.

"We are suspecting at this time that of the 10 deaths that we have spoken about, that about seven had hypothermia playing a role,"  Mamdani said.

With temperatures feeling like the single digits, homeless outreach teams are responding to 311 calls across the city, providing transport to shelters.

Outreach crews have helped over 200 in past week, City Hall says

CBS News New York's Ali Bauman joined one of those teams Wednesday for an exclusive look at how it tries to convince people into shelter.

Snow or shine, Aly Coleman and her team of about a dozen others from the Center for Urban Community Services Street Outreach walk the streets of East Harlem, checking on people experiencing homelessness.

"In the past week and a half or so, we have managed to encourage quite a few people to come inside. I would say probably 10, I would say, within the past few days," Coleman said.

They are some of the hundreds of outreach workers funded and deployed by City Hall to convince people to come out of the cold and into shelter.

"There are just so many people that my team worries about on a daily basis, and right now, obviously, that's just even more increased," Coleman said.

On Tuesday night, Mamdani joined some of their counterparts in Midtown. City Hall said crews have gotten more than 200 people into shelter since last week.

Consistency builds trust over time, advocate says

Coleman said the most difficult part of the outreach work is when they can't find someone they know is in need of help.

"When there's someone we're looking or we know is staying in an area on the street generally, and then we can't find them," she said.

That's what happened Wednesday at East 117th Street, where a snowy corner sat empty.

"I'd love to know where this particular client is, but at the same time, in this person's case, he's pretty resourceful," Coleman said.

Still, the uncertainty lingered on a 20-degree day that would turn into a 5-degree night.

"The hope is that the people who are not outside right now are somewhere warm," Coleman said.

She said the teams may not be successful in getting someone off the street every day, but that consistency year-round builds trust over time for weeks like these when being outdoors can be life or death.

Coleman added she's upping staffing to work longer hours for the next few days.