Mayor Eric Adams unveiled details of his $650 million investment to tackle homelessness and mental illness in a plan that increases the number of beds for unhoused individuals and leans more heavily on city hospitals.
Adams will funnel about $106 million to opening about 900 so-called safe haven beds, which have fewer requirements than a typical shelter and in some cases offer mental health treatment, bringing the citywide total to about 4,900. The city’s hospital system will also get $13 million to establish a 100-bed facility, offering a middle ground for people discharged from a psychiatric hospitalization but are not ready to move to permanent housing.
The five-year investment, first announced in the mayor’s State of the City address last week, will include $6 million to create 100 more beds for homeless youth, and $30 million for a pilot program to help expecting parents find permanent housing.
The mayor has doubled down on addressing homelessness and severe mental illness amid rising concerns about public safety and following a recent spate of violent crimes in the subway system and on the streets. The investment marks an expansion beyond Adams’ emphasis on involuntary hospitalization to a focus on increasing shelter beds and additional housing for psychiatric patients after discharge.
Citing a lack of housing for people coming out of psychiatric hospitalization, the mayor detailed a plan to create a temporary housing facility run by the city’s public hospital system. The new program, called “Bridge to Home,” will offer private rooms to individuals with mental health diagnoses and on-site behavioral health services, including medication management, therapy and substance use disorder treatment. The program is designed to offer round-the-clock care and support services, including three meals a day and recreational activities, according to the mayor’s office.
The program will help to fill a gaping hole in the city’s mental health system and break a cycle of homelessness for people with behavioral health conditions, Dr. Mitchell Katz, president and CEO of the public hospital system, said at a press conference Wednesday. In most cases, people who are hospitalized with severe mental illnesses receive intensive care for short stays ranging from two to four weeks, but clinicians are often forced to discharge them without a place to go, he said.
“We send them out to essentially nothing,” Katz said, adding that the best case scenario is an appointment with a case manager a few days after discharge.
The new housing program will be ready to accept patients in the 2027 fiscal year; the public hospital system is still scouting potential neighborhoods for the facility, said Stephanie Buhle, an H+H spokeswoman.
