Molly Wasow Park has been forced out as commissioner of New York City’s Department of Social Services in an abrupt leadership shakeup just one month into socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s tenure.
Park was forced to resign after learning she would not be retained by the Mamdani administration.
She reporters the role she hoped to continue in would not materialize.
Multiple sources familiar with the situation said she had been informed she would not remain in the position, according to the New York Times.
The resignation comes at a fraught moment for the city.
Eighteen New Yorkers recently died after exposure to extreme cold, with the first death reported on January 24.
Park is still scheduled to testify before the City Council regarding those fatalities even as she prepares to leave office.
Agency Under Pressure Before Deaths Made Headlines
According to reports, Mayor Mamdani and senior aides had already begun reassessing the direction and leadership of the Department of Social Services before the cold-weather deaths drew public attention.
First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan reportedly expressed concerns about Park’s stewardship, with the mayor’s team concluding the agency was not adequately addressing the needs of what they described as an “economically unstable population.”
New York’s homelessness crisis, however, has persisted for years despite billions spent on shelters, transitional housing, and social programs, raising broader questions about whether the city’s extensive bureaucratic framework is producing measurable results.
Park herself acknowledged limitations in the agency’s performance.
“When the final evaluation happens, I’m sure there’s going to be instances where we find instances where we could have done something different,” Park said.
“I feel like in an awful lot of cases, we did what we needed to.”
Leadership Turnover Amid Migrant Surge and System Strain
Park had been appointed in 2023 by former Mayor Eric Adams, replacing Gary Jenkins, who resigned amid criticism of his handling of homelessness.
She inherited a department already under pressure as New York struggled to shelter thousands of newly arriving illegal aliens while still grappling with the economic fallout of pandemic-era policies.
Her departure continues a pattern of turnover in one of the city’s most challenged agencies, where new leadership cycles in with promises of reform but confronts the same entrenched structural problems.
A spokesperson for Mayor Mamdani issued a brief statement:
“We appreciate Commissioner Park’s years of service to the city, and the mayor looks forward to working with her through this transitional period.”
City Hall said a replacement would be named “in the coming weeks.”
Cold-Weather Deaths Highlight Policy Limits
Since the cold snap began, officials report more than 1,400 placements into shelters or indoor sites and 34 involuntary removals from the streets.
While the placements suggest large-scale outreach, the 18 deaths underscore the limits of the current system and the constraints officials face when individuals refuse shelter.
Park argued the city must better understand why some homeless individuals decline assistance.
“We need to spend more time as a society asking what got people to this sense of trauma and dislocation, that they would rather stay on the street.”
The statement reflects a broader policy debate inside progressive governance about autonomy, intervention, and public responsibility when lives are at risk.
Mamdani Faces Defining Test on Homelessness
Park had promoted expanded use of rental vouchers to support affordable housing development, a strategy layered onto decades of similar programs that have not resolved New York’s housing shortage, widely tied to zoning limits, regulatory barriers, and high construction costs.
Whether Mayor Mamdani pursues a different path or doubles down on existing progressive approaches will likely define the next phase of the city’s homelessness policy.
City Councilwoman Crystal Hudson, who chairs the Council’s general welfare committee, praised Park’s tenure:
“[A] steadfast partner in the hard work of getting people off the streets and into permanent homes.”
Yet Park’s exit leaves the agency without permanent leadership during winter conditions that have already proven deadly, intensifying scrutiny of City Hall’s response and the broader political system surrounding homelessness in New York.
Park said the cold-weather deaths did not influence her decision to step down and that she felt no pressure from the mayor’s office.
Sources close to the situation offered a different account, saying she was effectively told her tenure was ending.
Regardless of the explanation, the resignation places renewed focus on accountability inside a city government still confronting the human toll of homelessness and the unresolved question of what, if anything, will change before next winter arrives.
READ MORE – Mamdani’s Powerful Judiciary Screening Chief Tied to Firm Accused of Fraud
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