Spotlight:
Adams’ $650 million plan for homelessness and mental health

January 10, 2025 Jesse Goodman

New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Photo: Seth Wenig/AP File photo

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In his State of the City address at Harlem’s Apollo Theater yesterday afternoon, Eric Adams laid out a plan to tackle one of the platform issues of his 2020-21 campaign: homelessness.

Adams promised a five-year, $650 million investment to expand shelter options and mental health support for New Yorkers living in impermanent housing, such as the streets, subways or shelters. It would be the largest investment ever dedicated to the city’s homelessness crisis.

“In the last few weeks we have seen random acts of violence that have shaken many New Yorkers,” Adams said. “This investment will allow us to expand support for New Yorkers who are living on our subways, wrestling with serious mental illness, and at risk of entering shelter.”

As part of the proposal, the Adams administration would build 900 new Safe Haven beds, an in-between option for homeless people awaiting relocation to permanent housing. New York City already boasts around 4,300 Safe Haven beds, which have proved effective in offering temporary relief from the challenges of homelessness or shelter living.

Adams also promised to build a new $13 million facility, run by NYC Health + Hospitals, specifically for the purpose of helping unsheltered New Yorkers with serious mental health illnesses by offering shelter, psychiatric care and substance abuse treatment. The facility would provide 100 beds for people in between psychiatric facilities and permanent housing.

Lastly, Adams touted a new program that would connect soon-to-be parents applying for shelter with services that help them find permanent housing before their child is born. “We must stop the cycle of poverty and housing instability before it ever begins and ensure mothers and babies do not go to a shelter after leaving the hospital,” Adams said.

The mayor touted his proposals as a solution to the perceived rise in subway violence, triggered by a string of highly-publicized attacks in recent months that have stoked fear in some New Yorkers. Subway crime was down citywide in 2024, but that hasn’t stopped commuters from demanding improved safety measures.

“We’re not going to give up on keeping our subway safe. Instead, we’re going to double down,” Adams said. “When it comes to our subways, we know what works: Safe Haven beds.”

David Giffen, the executive director of Coalition for the Homeless, called the Safe Haven bed expansion a “step in the right direction,” but added that it would address only a fraction of the need. The Coalition for the Homeless estimates there are 350,000 individuals living without homes in New York City — a number which includes people staying with friends or family. Giffen also remarked that the mayor seemed to be focused on “’alarming incidents that make headlines,” rather than “meaningfully reducing homelessness in New York City.’”

“Homeless people and people with mental illness are far more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violent attacks,” Giffen told the Associated Press. This assertion is backed up by studies conducted by the National Library of Medicine and the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, among others.

Adams’ political opponent, City Comptroller and NYC mayoral candidate Brad Lander, has his own issues with the proposal. “I didn’t hear a plan for subway homelessness,” Lander said. “We do need more Safe Haven beds but promising 900 more without any plan or any site seems unlikely to me.”

The success of Adams’ proposed medical facility, meanwhile, depends largely on the actions of Gov. Kathy Hochul, who recently announced that she will push to pass the Supportive Legislation Act, a bill that would change state law to make it easier for New York City to involuntarily hospitalize people in need of mental health care.

“We can do this, New York City, but we need Albany’s help as well,” Adams said.

The idea of involuntary hospitalization has been circulating in the state capitol for the last few years, but gained traction in the wake of recent high-profile subway attacks, including the burning of a homeless woman on the subway. The Supportive Legislation Act has not yet made it to the State Assembly or State Senate floor for a vote, but a renewed push may be gaining momentum among top politicians.

“I think there’s a global acknowledgement that we have to do something,” said Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-83)

Adams repeatedly threw his voice behind the bill during his State of the City address: “We have seen the tragic consequences when severe mental health illness on our streets and subways go unchecked, which is why we must pass the Supportive Intervention Act.”

A cluster of mental health advocates, however, have spoken out against the proposed legislation, calling it a violation of civil liberties and augmentation of the existing problem of mental health criminalization.

“The current system already fails those subject to involuntary commitment. They are bounced from one under-resourced facility after another before returning to the street,” warned Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, in a recent statement.

For his part, Lander sees the whole idea as ineffective. “One new building five years from now is not going to get anybody else housed,” he said.