A state-funded homeless outreach program has placed 723 people in the city into permanent housing, continuing a stable pace of placements since it launched three years ago, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday.
The city’s 17 so-called Safe Options Support teams, which consist of social workers, nurses and peer specialists, have served an average of over 200 people per year since they first started canvassing city streets and subways in April 2022. The program, which cost the state $35 million last year, has steadily directed people into housing and mental health treatment, working with a patchwork of homeless outreach programs that have varying degrees of success.
Nearly half of the 700 people in the city who have gone through the program have been placed into supportive housing, according to data from the Office of Mental Health, which operates the teams. Roughly 200 were placed in independent housing, 34 in skilled nursing facilities and 141 in state-licensed psychiatric facilities, the data shows.
Hochul launched a handful of Safe Options Support teams as a part of her $1 billion mental health plan in 2022, but has since expanded the program to include 28 teams, most recently launching a program in Staten Island and a team that focuses on older adults. Though most of the teams are located in the city, the state has funded 11 other teams in upstate New York and Long Island, according to the governor’s office.
The program’s success has led the governor to expand funding. The teams launched with a $21.5 million allocation in Hochul’s 2023 financial plan, but the budget has since expanded to more than $35 million last year and a proposed $33 million in 2026, according to the governor’s office. Hochul has also proposed a $2.8 million expansion that would add street medicine and psychiatry to the teams in hopes of providing immediate medical services to people on the streets.
Hochul plans to further expand the teams. The state plans to launch two new Bronx-based outreach teams focused on housing young adults later this year, the governor’s office said.
