Mayor Eric Adams received severe medical treatment on Tuesday, taking action to address the “crises we see all around us” towards the end of the year when a series of high-profile crimes involving homeless people occurred. announced a massive push to keep people with mental illness out of city streets and subways.
Adams, who has made clearing homeless camps a priority since taking office in January, said the effort was necessary. hospitalize someone unwittingly They claimed that the city had a “moral duty” to help them, and they were dangerous people to themselves, even if there was no danger of harming others.
“There is a persistent misconception that unless a person is violent, they cannot provide involuntary help,” Adams said in a speech at city hall. “This myth must end. Going forward, we will endanger people who suffer from mental illness or endanger them by preventing their illness from meeting their basic human needs. We make every effort to help people.
The mayor’s announcement comes at a time of heated national debate about rising crime and the role of the police, especially in dealing with the mentally unstable. Not only Republicans, but also crime-hard Democrats like former police chief Adams say the growing unrest calls for more aggressive action. Meanwhile, left-wing advocates and officials who control New York politics say placing police as auxiliary social workers could do more harm than good.
Other big cities struggle with how to help homeless people, especially those with mental illness. in California, Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed into law It can force homeless people with disabilities such as schizophrenia into treatment. Many states have Allow involuntary outpatient treatmentWhen Washington state allows people to stay in hospitals If a judge determines that they pose a threat to themselves or others.
New York City officials said they would soon roll out training to police officers, emergency medical services staff and other medical personnel to “ensure compassionate care.”but in the city New Directive on Policy It acknowledges that “case law does not provide extensive guidance on dismissals for mental health assessments based on short on-site interactions.”
The new policy quickly raised questions about who exactly would be wiped out by it.
Existing state law allows both police When health care worker Approving the involuntary involvement of people whose behavior threatens to cause “serious harm” to themselves or others. The mayor’s chief attorney, Brendan McGuire, said Tuesday that workers will evaluate people in public places on a “case-by-case basis.” It also includes whether or not they are able to meet their own needs.
The city directive states that “unconscious or delusional misconceptions about one’s surroundings” or “delusional misconceptions about one’s physical condition or health” may be grounds for hospitalization.
This effort also includes increasing the use of Kendra’s Law. This allows courts to mandate outpatient treatment for people who pose a danger to themselves or others. Expanded by Albany legislators in April.
Often, homeless people with severe mental illness are taken to hospitals, only to be discharged after a few days when their condition improves slightly. He said he would be kept until stable and only discharged if there was a viable plan to transfer him to continued care.
Hospitals often cite a lack of psychiatric beds as a reason to discharge patients, but the mayor said the city would make sure there were enough beds for those displaced. He noted that Gov. Kathy Hochul has agreed to add 50 new psychiatric beds. “We’re going to find beds for everyone,” Adams said.
It is unclear how many people will be affected by the new policy. The number of homeless people with severe mental illness who do not live in shelters varies seasonally, but is at least in the hundreds. Studies have shown that you have mental illness or other serious health problems.Annual estimates often criticized for being underestimated 3,400 people live on the streets and subways in January.
A series of high-profile, random attacks on streets and subways since the pandemic have made many New Yorkers feel the city has become more unpredictable and dangerous. People who suffer from both illness and homelessness, and there are many demands that elected officials take steps to address these problems.
Crime soars on subway this year, mayor said last month The main cause was mental illness.
In January, days after the mayor took office, a woman was killed in front of a subway train by a man with schizophrenia who for decades had cycled to and from the city’s hospitals, prisons and streets. I was pushed to death. The man, Marshall Simon, Became a symbol of a broken system And it prompted hearings by state attorneys general and swept through the city’s public health and emergency response systems to tackle issues that seemed intractable.
Adams on Tuesday emphasized the importance of hospitalizing and treating people with severe mental illness, even if they’re not threatening anyone.
“A man who stood all day in the street across from a building that was evicted 25 years ago, waiting to be let in. A shadow boxer on a Midtown street corner mutters as he stabs an unseen enemy. Unresponsive men who can’t get off the train at the end of the line without the assistance of our Mobile Crisis Response Team: These New Yorkers and hundreds of others like them urgently need medical attention. , and when offered, they often refuse it,” the mayor said.
He added: Without that intervention, they remain lost and isolated from society, plagued with delusions and disorganized thinking. ”
Adams, a Democrat, has been criticized by some progressive members of his party for continuing to push for changes to bail reform that would make it easier to clear out homeless camps and keep people in jail. is receiving The mayor has defended his focus on public safety, with many New Yorkers claiming they don’t feel safe, especially in Black and Latinx neighborhoods.
Adams held an event at a subway station on Monday to thank police officers for helping a homeless man who fell onto the tracks.
The episode “reinforces why we’ve been committed to keeping the subway system free of homeless people. The subway system is not a place for people who need medical or psychiatric help.”
Earlier this month, city public advocate Jumaan Williams said: released a report criticizing the mayor’s efforts Mr. Adams said he relied too much on the police to help New Yorkers with severe mental illness.
The report found a decline in the number of mental health crisis centers and mobile mental crisis response teams since 2019. Inadequate training, and mayoral cuts in funding for programs that send mental health professionals instead of police to certain emergencies.
One advocate for the mentally ill said the measures announced by the mayor went too far and would be counterproductive.
“The mayor talked about a ‘trauma-informed approach,’ but coercion is trauma in itself,” said the chief executive of the New York Association of Mental Rehabilitation Services and a longtime critic of involuntary confinement. Harvey Rosenthal said.
He added: “This job is all about arranging relationships and engagement, trust and reliability, and continuity in this service. He said the mayor’s approach relied on “the same failed system that is overloaded and unable to cope with the people who are already there.”
Adams warned that implementing the new policy will take time. “We should not think that decades of dysfunction will change overnight,” he said. “Even a long journey starts with a single step.”
City Councilman Tiffany Kaban said on Twitter on Tuesday The mayor’s plan is a “serious problem,” and his consent is the key to responding.
“In many cases, the wrong responders and responses, rather than the mental health crisis itself, lead to deadly situations,” she said.
