Brian Laird on WNYC.

So ahead of Sunday snowstorm, New York City residents were repeatedly advised to stay indoors and protect themselves from the dangerous cold.

But this advice is difficult to follow if you are one of the thousands of New Yorkers living on city streets. And of course, the cold is

continuing well past the snowstorm. On Thursday, Mayor Mamdani called a code blue triggering enhanced

outreach. They call it enhanced outreach efforts

and requiring shelters to accept anyone seeking refuge regardless of capacity. But despite the

city's efforts, eight people have died due to freezing conditions since Saturday, according to the

city. Yesterday, the mayor told members of the press

that some of the deceased had, quote,

interactions with our shelter system in the past.

The cold snap is set to linger for at least another week,

so with me now to discuss how the city can prevent more deaths

and better protect homeless New Yorkers

is Dave Giffin, executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless.

Dave, thank you for joining us.

Sorry, it's under these circumstances.

Welcome to WNYC.

Thank you, Brian.

And yes, it's terrible that we even have to talk about this.

And last Thursday, as I said, the mayor announced that enhanced code blue protocols would be in effect.

What is code blue and how has it been enhanced? Sure. Code blue is issued when the weather gets below a

certain temperature and it becomes dangerous, even more dangerous for people to be sleeping outside.

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