New Yorkers Experiencing Homelessness Deserve More Than What Eric Adams and Kathy Hochul Provide

Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams have been actively unveiling their latest fragmented strategies aimed at assisting homeless New Yorkers grappling with severe mental health challenges.

Their exclusive focus on merging homelessness with public safety provides little more than a facade of compassion, attempting to convey a strong stance on crime. Unfortunately, neither approach appears effective.

Hochul’s latest initiative involves deploying hundreds of NYPD officers—incurring overtime costs for the city—to oversee every overnight subway train.

By her own acknowledgment, this is merely “a six-month strategy.” This marks her third round of visible initiatives designed to divert attention from the unpredictable and violent crime that has left the city feeling unsafe. Over the past two years, she has increased patrols on two occasions (including the deployment of the National Guard).

In 2022, the head of her Office of Mental Health (OMH) issued the “Mental Health Involuntary Removals” (MHIR) directive, allowing the NYPD and other frontline personnel to forcibly remove individuals for psychiatric evaluation if they appear incapable of meeting their basic living needs, “even when no dangerous act (or threat to act) has been observed.”

This might seem revolutionary, but in truth, Hochul and Adams are simply reemphasizing existing mental health mandates in New York State that have been established for years.

Ultimately, the crucial question remains: Why has nothing changed following the governor’s 2022 directive?

Firstly, dispatching the National Guard or stationing officers on trains doesn’t automatically create the long-term hospital beds that distressed individuals require. In fact, severely mentally ill New Yorkers who willingly seek assistance are often turned away by our hospital system.

Over the last several years, we have lost thousands of long-term psychiatric beds and currently face a critical shortage of inpatient facilities.

Additionally, it’s vital to realize that a hospital bed alone does not constitute a solution; it is simply one element of a broader plan.

Once stabilized, every patient must transition into appropriate housing and receive ongoing psychiatric care.

Herein lies the accountability of Mayor Adams.

Recent reports highlighted an astounding 4,000 vacancies in NYC’s crucial supportive housing stock. This is more than sufficient to accommodate every neighbor now forced to sleep in public areas!

These available beds must be utilized.

Just last week, Adams promised an additional 900 “Safe Haven” beds, which offer increased privacy and enhanced social and psychiatric support.

He has also audaciously proposed taking over one of the four proposed replacement jails as part of the prolonged dismantling of Rikers Island to create a 100-bed, “state-of-the-art” facility.

However, both initiatives lack a clear timeline or specific location—ambiguity and failure to produce results is a significant weakness of this administration.

Adams has shown inadequate oversight for the existing housing resources and has struggled to coherently integrate the various subway and street outreach programs he has initiated.

This is not a new issue; it dates back to his early days in office following the tragic subway murder of Michelle Go in 2022.

As a result, New Yorkers now harbor doubts about whether any fundamental changes are achievable.

Such skepticism is understandable. For over 25 years, we have been subject to repeated assurances from every mayor and governor, promising that yet another piecemeal plan—from mandated medication compliance to continuous cycles of reorganized outreach efforts—would finally resolve the disorder and violence that plague our streets and subways.

Like many who have dedicated years (and at times decades) to advocating for and establishing safe, affordable housing for severely mentally ill New Yorkers, we are aghast at witnessing our neighbors endure freezing conditions on the streets or suffer slow, public deaths in our subways. Our governor and mayor are aware of this reality, yet like their Democratic counterpart in California, Gavin Newsom, they choose to intensify divisive rhetoric, aiming to distract from their evident failings that have contributed to this crisis.

We must radically change the approach, moving away from limitless funding for increasingly ineffective outreach teams. Without accompanying stable housing solutions, frontline workers are merely pursuing patients as if they were grains of sand blown by the wind.

Rather than exclusively insisting on upfront adherence to medication requirements and sobriety, New York must also enhance its investment in low-threshold permanent housing alongside effective psychiatric services. Such strategies have significantly reduced street homelessness in cities like Houston, Denver, and Philadelphia, and have virtually eliminated homelessness in Finland. New York deserves to follow suit.

Mary Brosnahan is the former president and CEO of Coalition for the Homeless