New York City authorities will begin hospitalizing homeless and vagrant people deemed to be in “psychiatric crisis,” whether or not these individuals go voluntarily, announced Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday.
The “scourge of homelessness,” as Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson recently called it, has infested not only the City of Dallas but many major cities across the United States. Now, the City of New York appears to be the first to pilot this new method by which local governments could combat the problem.
“I want to talk to you about a crisis we see all around us: People with severe and untreated mental illness who live out in the open, on the streets, in our subways — in danger and in need,” Mayor Adams said in his 19-minute address to the city council.
Numerous studies have reported that about one-third of homeless people are mentally ill, most of them suffering from schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Researchers report that the percentage is higher among the chronically homeless, or vagrant.
“For too long, there has been a gray area where policy, law, and accountability have not been clear, and this has allowed people to slip through the cracks,” the mayor said. “This culture of uncertainty has led to untold suffering and deep frustration. It cannot continue.”
He continued, “The common misunderstanding persists that we cannot provide involuntary assistance unless the person is violent. Going forward, we will make every effort to assist those who are suffering from mental illness.”
While NYC authorities are already permitted to detain those who are dangerously violent, this new directive from the mayor expands the interpretation of that policy to include people who could be endangered by their own inability to take care of themselves.
The policy creates an expedited step-by-step process for the involuntary transportation of individuals to hospitals. It states that it is appropriate to employ this process when individuals appear mentally ill and unable to meet their basic needs.
Officials said the City will immediately begin training police officers, emergency medical services staff, and other medical personnel to “ensure compassionate care.” Still, Mayor Adams noted the directive will take time to implement.
“Nobody should think decades of dysfunction can be changed overnight,” he said.
Not everyone is supportive of Adams’ new policy, however.
“This is deeply problematic,” said New York City Councilmember Tiffany Cabán. “I’ve visited trained, dedicated professional mental health first responders across the U.S. They consistently point out a couple of truths. Often the wrong responder and response are what create a deadly situation, not the mental health crisis itself.”
“The mayor talked about a ‘trauma-informed approach,’ but coercion is itself traumatic,” said Harvey Rosenthal, chief executive of the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services and a critic of involuntary confinement.
Rosenthal said the mayor’s approach relied on “the same failed system that’s overburdened and can’t address the people they already have now.”
The City of Dallas, too, continues to struggle with the homeless and vagrant population it has now, and its approach to addressing these issues has proved ineffective.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the City funneled $12 million into the Office of Homeless Solutions last year without getting visible results. For the fiscal year of 2022-23, that budget was increased to $14 million.
Recently, residents of a North Dallas neighborhood expressed frustrations with the city government’s effort to establish a “homeless services center” directly across the street from an elementary school, as previously covered by The Dallas Express.
