The destruction of homeless encampments across New York City, a hallmark policy of Mayor Eric Adams' administration, will be halted by Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

Adams ordered the crackdown in 2022, pairing police with social workers to convince people sleeping on sidewalks to go to shelters.

Data shows few were placed in housing after sweeps

Mamdani said the practice of destroying encampments and carting individuals' possessions away will be a thing of the past once he takes the oath of office.

He said the policy, which cost millions and used a multi-agency task force to break up the encampments, was not very successful.

"They are simply pushing New Yorkers who are living in the cold to another place where they will live in the cold," Mamdani said.

Data shows that few people were actually removed from the street and given places to live. NYPD statistics obtained by CBS News New York show of the 3,676 encampments visited by police so far this year, 2,046 were successfully cleaned out, but only 117 people were placed in housing.

Since the sweeps began in March 2022, only 513 people were placed in accommodations, according to the statistics.

Homeless advocates say those numbers show a focus to treat the symptoms, not the cause.

"We've seen this with Mayor Adams that the main concern is creating the appearance that homelessness is being reduced by removing people from sight," Coalition for the Homeless Executive Director Dave Giffin said. "And that's done without any thought to what's happening to those individuals who are being moved out of sight."

"If you are not connecting homeless New Yorkers to the housing that they so desperately need, then you cannot deem anything you're doing to be a success," Mamdani said at an event Thursday.

Retired NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell pushed back on Mamdani's criticism.

"The quality of life of the city will go backwards again," he said. "When you don't have a plan in place, you can't dismantle the one that wasn't perfect, but it was pretty good."

How Mamdani's Department of Community Safety will help

Sources tell CBS News New York that Mamdani hopes to use his new Department of Community Safety to address the issue.

The department will employ social workers and other trained professionals to convince people experiencing homelessness that the street is not a good place to live, as well as find shelter for them.

"We are going to take an approach that understands its mission is connecting those New Yorkers to housing, whether it's supportive housing, whether it's rental housing, whatever kind of housing it is," Mamdani said. "Because what we have seen is the treatment of homelessness as if it is a natural part of living in this city, when in fact it's more often a reflection of a political choice being made time and time again."

Advocates say many living on the streets don't go to shelters because they fear they won't be safe there.

"We have to use the power of example. We have to get to work to ensure that when any New Yorker looks at shelters, looks at supportive housing, they see a better option than living on our streets," Mamdani said.

Advocates hope the program includes an assortment of options, such as housing vouchers, supportive housing and permanent placements.