It’s Time to Seek Genuine Support for Those with Severe Mental Illnesses

This month, Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres delivered a powerful message when he criticized progressives for their “perversion of compassion”, highlighting the unfortunate reality of vagrants roaming our transit hubs and streets.

This is especially true for those suffering from mental illness who desperately need assistance.

Their presence creates a miserable — and perilous — environment for everyone, including themselves.

Progressives, in their thinking, believe they are being kind, considerate, and compassionate to these troubled individuals.

Civil libertarians think they are safeguarding their freedoms.

Many of these individuals genuinely believe they are acting morally by allowing these people to remain in such dire conditions.

They couldn’t be more mistaken.

It’s not compassionate to let someone sleep on the floor of Penn Station or allow violent individuals to attack innocent victims.

It’s not compassionate to permit drug users to shoot up and collapse in public.

It’s not compassionate to abandon a woman, thought to be homeless and using a walker, to be defenseless on an F-train while another individual fatally sets her on fire, as a suspected illegal, drug-addicted, homeless Guatemalan immigrant did this past Sunday.

This shocking incident reverberated across the nation.

Need more evidence? Consider the maniac who attacked a straphanger watching Netflix in an unprovoked assault on a Brooklyn train.

How many more incidents like these will it take for state lawmakers to abandon their misguided “compassion,” provide real help for these individuals (whether they seek it or not), and protect innocent New Yorkers from violent offenders?

Do they truly want to leave it to individuals like Daniel Penny to confront more Jordan Neelys?

Last week, The Post witnessed the daunting challenges faced by late-night outreach teams attempting to assist troubled vagrants wandering the 34th Street Herald Square Station’s underground wasteland: Of 96 individuals they encountered — many struggling with severe mental health issues — only 16 agreed to accept shelter or hospitalization.

Why were 80 individuals allowed to decline help when it was so evidently needed?

The simple answer is this: Albany allows them to refuse assistance.

“We have the tools to address the problem,” Rep. Torres told The Post’s Kirsten Fleming. “What is missing is the political will.”

Exactly!

The inability to detain ill-equipped, unhoused, ranting vagrants — who are clear dangers to themselves and/or others — falls squarely on ideologues and compromised lawmakers in Albany who oppose taking concrete action or fear the political repercussions from radical leftists.

Moreover, Gov. Hochul has yet to step in effectively. Her office has announced she is working on a plan aimed at allowing doctors to keep individuals in psychiatric care longer, to prevent them from returning to the streets.

Additionally, the state Office of Mental Health has implemented new regulations demanding comprehensive outpatient discharge plans to prevent individuals committed for mental health reasons from cycling through the system.

But how long will it be before these changes take effect?

And will they be sufficient to fully tackle this widespread, horrific issue?

Let’s be honest: Albany must radically alter its approach and grant the city more authority to remove individuals who are unable to fulfill basic needs for food, clothing, and medical care, or who pose threats to others.

Once these individuals are removed from the streets and placed into proper care facilities, clinicians can better assess their needs.

The criteria for involuntary commitment must be expanded, as those suffering from severe mental illness often lack awareness of their condition or the ability to act in their own best interest.

A beacon of hope: a new legislative proposal — the Supportive Intervention Act, crafted by City Hall aide Brian Stettin, who also wrote Kendra’s Law — that seeks sensible amendments to state mental health laws that currently hinder the city from assisting those who cannot comprehend their need for help.

The SIA aims to redefine “danger to self” to include risks from psychiatric issues alongside physical harm.

It would also empower licensed mental health counselors to conduct diagnoses, thereby increasing the number of qualified clinicians working within the city’s outreach teams.

Opposition comes from licensed social workers and other clinicians, with state Sen. Samra Brouk, chair of the Mental Health Committee, obstructing progress.

They must step aside.

To facilitate the entrance of more at-risk individuals into appropriate care, NYPD officers, mental health outreach workers, and judges should receive training to implement the new standards.

Gov. Hochul can significantly aid the city and Mayor Adams by incorporating SIA into her FY 2026 state budget plan.

Sen. Brouk and other misled progressives voice concerns about criminalizing the mentally ill, yet they fail to recognize that it is far more grievous to allow them to remain untreated.

They argue that mentally ill individuals are 11 times more likely to be victims of violence and five times more likely to be murdered.

But this only underscores the need to remove them from harm’s way.

Elected officials, from Hochul to others, have a primary duty to protect severely mentally ill New Yorkers from themselves and others — and to safeguard New Yorkers from them.

Perhaps, instead of merely offering thoughts and prayers for victims like the tragic woman set ablaze on the F train, they should take swift action to pass the Supportive Intervention Act.

Genuine compassion requires decisive action to prevent the next tragedy.

Our political leaders evidently possess the tools to care for those in need and to ensure the safety of New Yorkers. It’s time for them to find the will to act.