John,

Right now, New York City is experiencing a crisis of people with serious mental illness cycling between the city subways, streets, hospitals, and jails — and back again.

And in recent days and weeks, it’s a crisis that has tragically been amplified by a series of high profile, violent incidents on our subways — like Caleb Rijos, a 14 year old boy who was killed in the Bronx last Friday in a senseless stabbing, and Debrina Kawam, herself homeless, who was cruelly burned to death on an F Train over Christmas.

As announced in the New York Times today, I’ve got a bold new plan to address this, John.

As Mayor, I promise to end street homelessness for seriously mentally ill people — making this city safer for them and for all New Yorkers. Here’s how we’ll get it done:

• Create a “Housing First” program that combines existing supportive housing with SRO units, vouchers, and Service Dollars to get people off the street and directly into stable housing — with the wraparound mental health and social services that they need.
  
  For too long, City Hall has taken a “housing last” approach to the crisis. We need to change that. The “Housing First” approach has proven effective at connecting people to stable housing with mental health and social services in cities around the country, and was utilized by New York City over a decade ago to end street homelessness for veterans.


• Expand and improve involuntary and court-ordered treatment and secure detention programs. This means building many more secure therapeutic beds, and enabling mental health court judges and Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) providers to connect people to supportive housing.


• Improve City Hall management and coordination across agencies and outreach programs. Under Mayor Adams’ administration, homeless New Yorkers sleep on the streets and subways — when there are currently more than enough supportive housing units sitting empty to house them. Instead of disorganized homeless sweeps that merely shuffle vulnerable New Yorkers between shelters, hospitals, and jails, City agencies must coordinate a continuum of care.


• Require New York City and State to invest more in our mental health systems. Unfortunately, state funding was significantly cut under Andrew Cuomo's administration, when Medicaid funding was reduced. That’s a big part of why NYC’s mental health systems have been eviscerated. We need those resources restored.

John, I’ll be talking a lot about this plan in the weeks and months ahead.

We can end street homelessness for people with serious mental illness on the streets of New York City. And we can make it a city where everyone can walk through their neighborhoods and commute on the subway in safety.

That will be a New York City that is genuinely safer for all.

Thanks, 

Brad