I have engaged with the mentally ill homeless regularly as I am working in Bed Stuy and riding the subway there daily. I agree that there has to be some fundamental change in their lives and help them get off the street and out of the subway. Starting with hospitalization, therapy and medication is an important first step but beyond that they need supportive housing and trained professionals who will live in the supportive housing and guide them day in and day out, because otherwise this program will fail. Hospitalization alone is not the answer.
I am a nurse and discussed this with the director of a family shelter in Bed Stuy.
No city has a workable policy to deal with the category of folks described by Adams, the pandemic accelerated the issue .... LA and SF, Portland, the list goes on and on .... we'd probablhy agree that the "dangerous" street people should be removed, how do you define "dangerous" and where do you house these "dangerous" folk, dnagerous to others or to themselves w/o creating another Willowbrook? It's been ignored for decades and is now an issue in elections ....
"She said police had, three times, taken her off the street and involuntarily committed her to a psychiatric ward."
The police can and will bring you to a psychiatric emergency room, but in New York state, "involuntary commitment" is a process which doctors control. This process is customarily known as "two physicians' certification" (or "2PC" for short). See: https://omh.ny.gov/omhweb/forensic/manual/html/mhl_admissions.htm.
I have engaged with the mentally ill homeless regularly as I am working in Bed Stuy and riding the subway there daily. I agree that there has to be some fundamental change in their lives and help them get off the street and out of the subway. Starting with hospitalization, therapy and medication is an important first step but beyond that they need supportive housing and trained professionals who will live in the supportive housing and guide them day in and day out, because otherwise this program will fail. Hospitalization alone is not the answer.
I am a nurse and discussed this with the director of a family shelter in Bed Stuy.
No city has a workable policy to deal with the category of folks described by Adams, the pandemic accelerated the issue .... LA and SF, Portland, the list goes on and on .... we'd probablhy agree that the "dangerous" street people should be removed, how do you define "dangerous" and where do you house these "dangerous" folk, dnagerous to others or to themselves w/o creating another Willowbrook? It's been ignored for decades and is now an issue in elections ....
One detail which should be clarified:
"She said police had, three times, taken her off the street and involuntarily committed her to a psychiatric ward."
The police can and will bring you to a psychiatric emergency room, but in New York state, "involuntary commitment" is a process which doctors control. This process is customarily known as "two physicians' certification" (or "2PC" for short). See: https://omh.ny.gov/omhweb/forensic/manual/html/mhl_admissions.htm.