New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order on Sunday mandating all homeless people in the Empire State be taken to shelter in freezing temperatures.

Starting on Tuesday, Cuomo is requiring homeless people across the state to be removed from the streets and brought to shelters when the temperature drops to 32 degrees and below. Cuomo said the order aims to protect the growing homeless population from hypothermia and potential death.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, however, said the executive order would not change much in the Big Apple since the city already takes measure to protect the homeless from severe weather.

"It doesn't change what we do and what we have done many years," said de Blasio speaking of Cuomo's order, according to the New York Daily News. "If someone's in danger we will take them off the streets. That's always been policy."

"We take anyone off the streets we believe is in imminent danger," the mayor explained to WCBS 880. "That's something NYPD does, that's something our outreach workers do through our homeless services department. So we have that capacity right now under state law and we have done that for years and we will continue to do it."

However, "If someone's not in danger, the law says that they still have rights to make that decision themselves," he added.

Some homeless New Yorkers also pushed back against the governor's order, arguing that they prefer to sleep outdoors because the shelters are dangerous.

"It's a choice you make whether you want to go into the shelters or not," Michael Booth, a homeless man in Manhattan's Upper West Side, told a CBS reporter. "There's too much violence in the shelters -- they're very dangerous."

Likewise, a homeless man named Luis said he'd rather sleep outdoors than an unknown shelter. "There's criminals in there, people just out of jail, there's mentally ill in there," he said. "You wouldn't even let your dog eat the food."

Cuomo, however, has vowed to make shelters safe and hospitable.

"If shelters are not up to code, then we are going to be very diligent in our inspection and management of the existing shelter system," he said.