NEW YORK, NY — New York City is expanding its winter emergency playbook after a deadly cold season that officials said exposed major gaps in how the city handled snow and freezing temperatures. Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the city “will be ready” when severe weather returns, pointing to a broader plan built around outreach, shelter space, medical support and heating enforcement.
The changes come after last winter, when at least 20 cold-weather-related deaths were reported and residents complained about frozen bus stops, unplowed streets and neighborhoods, including on Staten Island, that felt overlooked. City officials said the updated approach is meant to better protect vulnerable New Yorkers before the next stretch of dangerous weather arrives.
Deadly cold exposed gaps in the city’s old winter strategy
Mamdani said the previous response was not built for the scale of the conditions New York faced last winter. He described the city’s inherited approach as outdated and said the cold was far worse than a typical season. At one point, he said, parts of the city were colder than Antarctica.
Emergency Management Commissioner Christina Farrell said the city spent 2026 working with partner agencies, nonprofits, elected officials and other stakeholders to revise winter plans after extreme cold and snowstorms earlier this year. She warned that winter weather can be dangerous for everyone, especially for people who are already vulnerable. The city is urging residents to review their heating safety and emergency plans before the season starts.
$25 million will fund a revamped Code Blue response
The centerpiece of the new effort is a $25 million investment for a redesigned Code Blue plan, which is the city’s response system for dangerously cold conditions. Officials said the goal is to move faster and reach more people before exposure becomes life-threatening.
One major change is the city’s new canvassing model for people living on the streets. Instead of searching for specific names on a list, more than 300 additional canvassers will go block by block looking for anyone who may need help. The city is also adding 300 more outreach workers to approach homeless New Yorkers during severe weather.
Officials said the summer Code Red response helped test the new approach and showed that it worked.
More beds, nurses and mobile units for extreme weather sheltering
The city is also adding 600 low-barrier shelter beds, giving people more options when temperatures fall to dangerous levels. These shelters are meant to make it easier for people to come inside quickly during severe weather.
In addition, the city will deploy 55 NYC Health + Hospitals WARM mobile units with medical support and transportation to warming centers, medical facilities and other warm locations. Each team will include a registered nurse or nurse practitioner. Officials said the plan is designed to handle both medical needs and the logistics of getting people out of the cold.
The city is also hiring more nurses to work alongside outreach teams so people can be checked for health and safety concerns in the field.
Sanitation adds 120 snow blowers as the city revises street clearing
New York is also making equipment changes for sidewalk cleanup. The city is buying 120 mini snow blowers to help clear sidewalks, instead of relying only on workers using shovels. Sanitation Commissioner Greg Anderson said the machines were chosen to be durable enough for city winter conditions while still being light enough to move where needed.
Officials also said the city is adding 22 more warm mobile units. Those units, combined with the new outreach teams, are intended to help get people to safer indoor locations faster when weather conditions turn dangerous.
The changes reflect the city’s concern that the last winter left too many spots without reliable service and too many residents without a clear path to warmth.
Heat complaints, boiler repairs and housing enforcement are getting tougher
The winter plan also includes a new housing enforcement approach. For the first time this season, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development will respond to every non-anonymous heat complaint rather than grouping multiple complaints from the same building and closing them once the first is fixed.
If a landlord does not correct a heating problem, HPD can make emergency repairs, restore service and bill the owner. Buildings that repeatedly fail to provide heat could face court orders for repairs and civil penalties if officials deem that appropriate.
NYCHA said it has a reserve of mobile boilers for severe heating emergencies. Twenty-two mobile boilers are already connected to developments, and four more are available if needed.
School snow days remain uncertain as the city weighs remote learning
Mamdani also faced questions about whether New York City Public Schools will continue to use traditional snow days or shift to remote learning during major winter events. He said the answer depends on the specific weather situation.
He noted that the school calendar already includes additional holidays and must still meet the state-required 180 days of instruction, which leaves little room to move school time around. Still, he said the decision would depend on the day itself.
The broader winter response also includes work to reduce energy burdens. The city is canvassing all boroughs to help residents lower utility bills through the Enhanced Energy Affordability Program and is coordinating with utilities to prepare for possible outages.