For most of the last decade, Frederick Jones seemed to embody the successful transition from street homelessness to permanent housing.
Jones moved out of public spaces and into a specialized shelter in 2016, after connecting with an outreach team from the organization Breaking Ground months earlier. From there, in 2017, he moved into a ninth-floor apartment at a building known as the Times Square, a hulking, 652-unit apartment complex near the Port Authority Bus Terminal with an ornate lobby and on-site social services.
Jones, 67, was still a tenant of the building when emergency workers found his body near a Midtown street corner about a mile away on Saturday morning. He was one of at least 10 New Yorkers who died outdoors as temperatures plunged to single digits and snow blanketed the five boroughs.
His death reveals how a man in crisis can slip through the gaps in the social safety net, even with resources and support, and exposes cracks in the city’s emergency response system.
“I’m just in shock,” said Shonell McKinley, a court-appointed guardian who helped Jones navigate eviction proceedings and repay back rent last year. “He should not have been outside. He had a roof over his head.”
Jones also had strangers looking out for him. In the hours before his death, the city’s 311 system received at least two calls that operators routed to emergency dispatchers, prompting at least two site visits by emergency responders, according to information shared by the NYPD.
Emergency medical workers responding to a third call on Saturday morning found Jones unresponsive. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
A spokesperson for the city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said it is still investigating what caused Jones’ death.
Officials from Breaking Ground said they would hold a memorial to honor Jones in the coming weeks.
“We are deeply saddened by the passing of our tenant, Frederick Jones, and extend our heartfelt condolences to all who loved him during this incredibly difficult time,” Vice President Patrick Bonck said in a written statement.
‘Something did not go as it should’
The city’s emergency response system relies largely on everyday New Yorkers who call in to report people they think need help, especially during “Code Blue” emergencies when temperatures dip below freezing.
At about 9:45 a.m. on Friday, someone called to say a man was unconscious near the corner of East 35th Street and Third Avenue. But an NYPD spokesperson said the man was alert when cops and paramedics arrived to check on him.
He refused assistance, according to a partial transcript of the encounter.
The morning encounter — with Jones alert, temperatures mild and no snow falling — did not provide grounds for an involuntary removal, a contested method for dealing with people who police and emergency responders determine are in danger.
By the evening, Jones had moved across the street and was sitting and drinking alcohol in front of a D’Agostino supermarket at 528 Third Ave., according to building superintendent Jose Contreras. He said he had not seen Jones at the location before and, at about 11 p.m., urged him to go indoors.
“I told him, ‘Hey, you need to move. You can’t stay there. You’re going to freeze,’” Contreras said. “He kind of blew me off.”
Contreras said he went to his apartment and contacted 311 to request aid. He showed Gothamist his outgoing call log showing he made the call at 11:10 p.m. The operator routed his call to 911 under the city’s Code Blue protocol for dangerously cold weather.
“I said, ‘He’s sitting and it’s extremely cold,’” Contreras said. “The man never woke up the next morning.”
NYPD spokesperson Brad Weekes said the call was logged as a “disorderly male” and that officers drove to the location at 11:25 p.m. but did not see anyone there.
Hours later, employees heading to work at the D’Agostino saw Jones in the same place. Store manager Kyle McCoy said he called 311 to seek help.
This time, emergency medical workers arrived with the police. They pronounced Jones dead just after 8 a.m., according to the NYPD.
Dave Giffen, who heads the nonprofit Coalition for the Homeless, said trained outreach workers may have been able to better assist Jones. Giffen questioned why the Friday night call only prompted a police response.
“It sounds like something did not go as it should have here,” he said. “Police responding to someone with disorderly conduct is a lot different than a homeless outreach team.”
At the time, many of the city’s outreach workers were busy trying to find shelter for chronically homeless people on the street, Giffen said. The city’s Department of Social Services and nonprofits contracted to perform outreach maintain a priority list — sometimes called the “top 50 list” — of New Yorkers who they have been engaging with for months and years.
Giffen said the city and nonprofit providers may not have had enough staff to meet the need for assistance during frigid temperatures.
“The definition of enough is that nobody dies on the streets,” he said.
A quiet neighbor
The Department of Social Services alerted outreach workers to Jones’ death on Saturday evening, a few hours before a blizzard dumped snow on the five boroughs.
Jones, who struggled with mental illness, received psychiatric care and other social services from the organization Center for Urban Community Services, or CUCS. The organization’s president and CEO Dawn Pinnock said she was “deeply saddened” by his death.
“Our hearts go out to the resident’s loved ones, and we are committed to supporting all residents during this difficult period,” Pinnock said in a statement.
Eric Robinson, who lives down the hall, said Jones was quiet, but seemed like a “free spirit.” Others said they knew him only by sight.
Court records show Jones stopped paying his $246-a-month portion of the rent in March 2022. The bulk of the rent is covered by government programs that fund supportive housing.
A year later, Breaking Ground sued him for nonpayment. The city’s Adult Protective Services intervened after a judge appointed McKinley as a guardian in July 2023.
McKinley said she helped him set up Social Security payments, establish a payment plan and apply for assistance to cover his unpaid rent. Breaking Ground dropped the lawsuit in January 2025.
“He was very respectful,” McKinley said. “Didn’t raise his voice. Said ‘yes, ma’am.’ Opened the door for me in the courts.”
“He had a place to stay,” she said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
