Dear New Yorkers,

As the New York Times reported this morning, my office released an audit of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH)’s Intensive Mobile Treatment (IMT) program.

The new audit reveals that IMT is increasingly failing to help get mentally ill and homeless New Yorkers off the street and into stable housing due to poor management and coordination.

IMT was created in 2016 to provide our most vulnerable New Yorkers with access to mental health services, substance abuse treatment, guidance within the criminal justice system, and homeless services. Right now, 31 IMT street teams serve more than 800 at-risk New Yorkers. These teams, which are contracted out, include mental health, substance use, and peer specialists to provide support and treatment, and to facilitate connections to housing and supportive services.

Despite the City spending more than $37 million on IMT last year alone, DOHMH hasn’t set clear standards to measure its effectiveness. In other words, we don’t know whether IMT is actually working to keep people safe.

Here are a few of the treatment gaps in the IMT program that my team identified:

The story of Rashid Brimmage, which was reported by the New York Times this morning, illustrates the gaps in the IMT program. Brimmage was placed with an IMT team after an arrest in 2019. Diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, he was badly in need of antipsychotic medication and could not go more than a few hundred feet without cursing or assaulting strangers. Mr. Brimmage checked himself into emergency rooms five times in 2020, but was discharged each time – without contact with his IMT team.

After he assaulted a 92-year-old woman, he spent months in jail, was sent to a residential treatment program, and then disappeared again. It was a Times reporter who spotted Mr. Brimmage on a subway train in March 2023, in distress, wearing a hospital bracelet, who contacted his treatment team, and he then returned to his treatment program.

My office has suggested solutions to ensure that New Yorkers like Rashid Brimmage get the care they need. We recommend that DOHMH develop reasonable, measurable targets for treatment, improve coordination with DOC and hospitals, and identify a dedicated set of housing vouchers to help IMT participants get off the street.

IMT is beset by substantial gaps in oversight right now – but the program model is still promising. With better coordination and management, IMT can serve our most vulnerable New Yorkers and increase safety for everyone.

Thanks,

Brad