Mayor Eric Adams announced a $650 million investment toward tackling mental health in the city at Bellevue Hospital Wednesday.
“There’s nothing dignified about allowing someone to sleep in the street, sleep in the subway system,” he said.
Adams says part of the money will go toward a new initiative called “Bridge to Home” that will provide psychiatric beds for 100 struggling New Yorkers.
“We refuse to surrender, we refuse to submit. New Yorkers don’t submit. We solve problems,” he said. “The new facility will provide a safe space for New Yorkers with mental illness to live, to heal and be cared for so they get the life-changing help they need.”
The facility will specifically look to fill the gap left when a struggling New Yorker is discharged from the hospital but has no place to go.
“In our bridge, we will be able to provide people with their own room in a setting where we will have on-site services so that we can maintain their recovery,” Dr. Mitchell Katz, president and CEO at NYC Health and Hospitals, said.
Along with the new facility, the city will also bring 900 safe haven beds and 100 youth runaway beds online.
“Safe havens are the first and most important step in helping many individuals start the process of getting back on their feet. Outreach workers, such as myself and shelter staff, work closely together to make sure individuals receive quality care,” said Andrew Walker, a Department of Homeless Services outreach worker who has been on the job for two years.
Advocates for the homeless say they need more details on the new facility.
“This could be a very good idea. What we don’t know: are those beds voluntary, or are they involuntary? If they’re involuntary, are people able to contest their placement in a facility like that once people are there? And it’s not long term, by their own words it’s up to twelve months, what happens after twelve months? Are they going to be able to place people into housing?” Dave Giffen, executive director of Coalition for the Homeless, asked.
Meanwhile, City Comptroller Brad Lander, who’s challenging Adams in the race for mayor, said on social media that the plan is a little too late.
Mayor Adams had 3 years to “do the work” of keeping people with serious mental illness from cycling from street to subway to hospital to jail.
— Brad Lander (@bradlander) January 15, 2025
New Yorkers are fed up with a government that isn’t working.
As Mayor, I will deliver a safer, more affordable, and better- run city.
But Adams shot back at his critics Wednesday.
“As we deal with the immediate crisis right now, we need to be building towards the future as well. Again, that’s the difference between the adults and the cults,” he said. “Listen, you can’t say cult without Brad.”
Officials said the new safe haven beds will be online by this summer. While the facility will be sited this year and fully operational by 2027.
