Mayor Eric Adams is facing backlash after moving forward with a host of policy changes that move the mentally ill from the streets into hospitals without their consent.
“For too long, there has been a gray area where policy, law, and accountability have not been clear, and this has allowed people in need to slip through the cracks,” Adams said during a press conference. “This culture of uncertainty has led to untold suffering and deep frustration. It cannot continue.”According to Adams, officials will begin hospitalizing more homeless people by involuntarily providing care to those deemed to be in a “psychiatric crisis.”
Donald Whitehead, the Executive Director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, an organization committed to ending homelessness, told NBC that the homeless action plan fails to provide permanent, affordable housing coupled with supportive services for the mentally ill. If anything, he adds more emphasis on getting people permanent housing instead of forcing needy people into an institutional setting that hinders a pathway to self-sufficiency.
Whitehead doubled down on his statement in a Facebook post published by the National Coalition for the Homeless, “You can confine people as much as you want, but if you don’t have a housing solution at the other side of it, you haven’t done anything to solve homelessness.”
For months, Adams and his administration have discussed stopping unhoused people from sheltering in subways despite pending budget cuts that will remove services the city provides to the homeless, NPR reported. At least 470 people were reportedly arrested this year for “being outstretched” or taking up more than one seat on a train car.
The new policy would, in essence, force homeless people out off the streets. Those who do not comply will be subject to citations or arrest. This is something that cannot be accepted, as it is cruel and inhumane.
As NYC plans to move the mentally unfit for shelter into psychiatric or medical facilities, the public questions whether Major Adam’s proposal will help or hurt the homeless population.
Source: NBC News NOW
