The MTA’s three-part plan towards subway safety addresses the gap between systems regarding NYC’s people, places, and policies.
In the city’s press release, the new plan will offer solutions to both NYC’s homeless population and safety and security for every rider.
Riders & transit workers need to feel safe in the subways instead of living in fear & frustration. We appreciate this comprehensive team-based Subway Safety Plan to solve this complex & tragic situation. Thanks @NYCMayor @GovKathyHochul @MTA @NYPDTransit for making it a priority. pic.twitter.com/UQoKCog7lj
— Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA (@PCACriders) February 18, 2022
New York State will bring the Department of Homeless Services (DHS), the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), the New York City Police Department (NYPD) together in a collaborative effort to provide temporary housing, mental heath care, and holistic support to individuals.
Specifically at the highest-need stations (Penn Station, Grand Central Terminal, West 4th Street, the W. 42nd St. Corridor, the Fulton Street Corridor, and Jamaica Center), five community-based homeless outreach teams will work alongside the NYPD to help relocate people to a safe refuge for those in need.
The subway is what makes New York City possible. But if the people who use it and make it run every day aren't safe, we'll never truly recover.
The Subway Safety Plan is how we'll get the greatest mass transit system in the world back on track: https://t.co/dywwRe0iBb pic.twitter.com/OGotphJ34p
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) February 18, 2022
New Drop-in-Centers will “provide an immediate pathway” to safe spaces from train stations. Additional H+H Street Health Outreach & Wellness vans will provide further medical behavioral services. The city will expand supportive housing by reducing necessary paperwork, streamlining an appropriate process, and increasing availability to 140 Safe Haven beds and nearly 350 Stabilization Beds.
Governor Kathy Hochul announced today that $27.5M will be invested in psychiatric beds statewide, along with $12M for additional housing & shelter.
Today, along with @NYCMayor, I'm proud to announce new investments to address the mental health needs of New Yorkers experiencing homelessness:
➡️ $27.5M for psychiatric beds statewide, including 600 in New York City
➡️$12M for 500 additional supportive housing beds— Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) February 18, 2022
Furthermore, the City might reinstate a policy to bring back “End of the Line” exits that help engage and navigate hundreds of individuals at final train line stops to necessary shelter such as Safe Haven and stabilization beds. NYPD presence will increase in stations (already more than 1,000 officers have been deployed), along with enforcement against prohibited rules outlined by the press release as:
- Lying down, sleeping, or outstretching in a way that takes up more than one seat per passenger or interferes with fellow passengers
- Creating an unsanitary environment by spitting, littering, and more
- Exhibiting aggressive behavior towards other passengers
- Using the subway system for any purpose other than transportation
- Smoking or open drug use
12 new DOHMH Neighborhood Response Unit (NRU) teams will help New Yorkers receive necessary mental health services by responding to crises and organizing community assets. These teams will strive to destigmatize mental illness and raise awareness towards accessible services.
Information in regards to mental illness and how New Yorkers can find support will be addressed through doubling the FDNY & H+H Behavioral Health Emergency Assistance Response Division (“B-HEARD”), incorporating medical services into DHS sites, among additional efforts.
Support is needed beyond the city and through federal and state partners. Governor Kathy Hochul also made an announcement about a $9M annual investment in recruiting psychiatrists and psychiatric nurse practitioners.
These investments build on my $10 billion plan to improve our health care system, including a $577 million increase for mental health programs & services.
We will keep working together to keep our subways safe for riders, and to get help & services to those in need.
— Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) February 18, 2022
And though all of these steps won’t solve the enormity of all of these problems, hopefully this new plan will be a starting point to making every New Yorker feel safer in their city.
“We can build a system in which helping a New Yorker off our streets, trains, or subway stations is the first step in a new journey, from outreach to housing to ongoing care and a true sense of community all coordinated seamlessly by the City,” shared the press release.
Find out more here.