Mayor Adams Takes Unprecedented Action to Curb Street Homelessness, Support People With Severe Mental Illness With $650 Million Investment for City's Most Vulernable Population

January 15, 2025

New Innovative Model Will Provide Treatment and Temporary Housing to Patients with Severe Mental Illness, Deliver Comprehensive Behavioral Health Care to Keep People Off Streets

Adds 900 Safe Haven Beds and 100 Runaway Homeless Youth Beds for Vulnerable Homeless Population, Proven to Improve Outcomes

Announced in Mayor Adams' State of the City, $650 Million Plan Builds on Adams Administration's Record of Largest Investment in Street Beds, Over 2,800 Formerly Unsheltered Homeless Individuals Placed in Permanent Housing

NEW YORK - As part of a $650 million plan to tackle street homelessness announced in last week's State of the City address, New York City Mayor Eric Adams today unveiled details of the administration's historic investment to help New York City's most vulnerable populations and support those with severe mental illness, including a new effort to support those with severe mental illness and who do not have a home. Under a new, innovative model, "Bridge to Home," NYC Health + Hospitals will offer a supportive, home-like environment to patients with serious mental illness who are ready for discharge from the hospital but do not have a place to go. By offering patients intensive treatment and comprehensive support, Bridge to Home aims to keep patients on a path toward sustained success, reducing unnecessary emergency room visits and inpatient hospitalizations, decreasing street homelessness and reliance on shelters, and lowering interactions with the criminal justice system. NYC Health + Hospitals expects to ramp the program up in Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 and fully operationalize it in FY27, serving up to 100 beds.

As part of this street homelessness plan, Mayor Adams also announced a dramatic expansion of the city's capacity to serve people experiencing unsheltered homelessness by adding 900 Safe Haven shelter beds and 100 Runaway and Homeless Youth Beds, which offer intensive wraparound services and specialized resources that drastically increase success rates. These initiatives are a key component of the administration's Street Homeless Solutions Plan. Today's announcement represents a new investment of over $620 million over five years to serve the street homeless population. Combined with the administration's previous Subway Safety Plan investment, this investment brings the New York City Department of Homeless Services street programming budget to over $350 million in FY25 and $400 million at full ramp-up, which will be the largest annual investment in street sheltering in city history and is more than double the city's street programming budget from when Mayor Adams entered office.

Building on this work, Mayor Adams will also be advancing a bold new initiative aimed at ensuring no child should ever be born into New York City's shelter system. The $30 million pilot program will connect soon-to-be parents applying for shelter with services that help them find permanent housing and prevent homelessness, and will be rolled out over the coming weeks.

"For too long, government has failed to care for and help unhoused New Yorkers, especially those with severe mental illness, so when we came into office, we said the days of ignoring people in need - on our streets and in our subways - were over," said Mayor Adams. "Today, we are announcing further details of our historic $650 million effort to tackle street homelessness. Our new 'Bridge to Home' model will help New Yorkers with severe mental illness and invest in 1,000 street beds that we know are in high demand and that are highly effective. This administration has made the largest annual investment in serving street homelessness in the city's history and has more than doubled our street programming budget from when we came into office. We will continue to lead on this issue because it is the right and compassionate thing to do, and it is how we make New York City the best place to raise a family."

"Our highest needs patients deserve our highest level of care," said NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO Mitchell Katz, MD. "'Bridge to Home' will give our patients with serious mental illness a new beginning, combining social and recreational activities with the privacy of their own room and psychiatric support from a comprehensive care team, including peers. Our goal is to keep these patients engaged in care and able to develop the skills needed to live a healthy and independent life. We are thrilled that Mayor Adams has invested in this exciting innovation in the city's approach to behavioral health and stability."

Bridge to Home

As the city's first-of-its-kind model, Bridge to Home will provide single rooms, three meals a day, structured recreation, and individualized, comprehensive behavioral health care on-site, including medication management, individual and group therapy, substance use disorder treatment, and around-the-clock support. For a period of six to 12 months, patients will stay in temporary housing with comprehensive behavioral health treatment located on-site. They will be allowed to stay at this residence until they can be transitioned to permanent supportive housing facilitated by the health system's "Housing for Health" initiative. The program will be staffed 24/7 by NYC Health + Hospitals professionals, including psychiatric providers, social workers, nurses, peer specialists, and licensed creative arts therapists. The administration is investing $13 million in the annual baseline budget for Bridge to Home.

Bridge to Home will be a critical addition to the continuum of care for behavioral health, giving the city's public hospitals an additional discharge option that was previously missing for individuals who no longer meet inpatient criteria but need additional supports in the community. It builds on the care provided by the system's three Extended Care Units (ECUs), which offer inpatient care for patients with serious mental illness who have been historically disconnected from health and social services for up to 120 days. For these New Yorkers, the ECUs provide more intensive inpatient treatment coupled with social learning, behavioral paradigms, and person-centered rehabilitation.

In the ECU, patients access psychopharmacological treatment; rehabilitative activities, including music and art therapy; reading; and various exercises, regardless of insurance status or ability to pay. ECUs are focused on comprehensive discharge and aftercare planning with 50 percent of patients connected to permanent housing within six months of discharge. Data shows that individuals have seen a 54 percent reduction in Emergency Department visits and inpatient psychiatric hospitalizations within the same period when using ECUs.

Increasing Unsheltered Homelessness Bed Capacity

Safe Haven shelter beds are "low-barrier to entry" shelter facilities that offer transitional housing and are often the first step towards helping New Yorkers experiencing homelessness accept services and transition off of the streets and out of the subways.

Safe Havens and stabilization beds are small-scale, low-barrier programs specifically tailored for unsheltered individuals who may be resistant to accepting, or who may not be best served by, other services, including traditional transitional housing settings. These sites are equipped with on-site services and compassionate staff who work closely with these New Yorkers to build trust, stabilize lives, encourage further transition off the streets and out of the subways, and help them ultimately transition into permanent housing. Today's announcement brings the total capacity of Safe Haven and stabilization beds to 4,900. The administration is investing $106 million in the annual baseline budget for Safe Havens and other low-barrier beds.

Runaway and Homeless Youth beds provide more specialized resources to younger adults and vulnerable populations. Youth experiencing homelessness are more likely to accept services in these facilities, which are in high demand and often oversubscribed. Today's announcement brings the total capacity of Runaway and Homeless Youth beds to over 900. The administration is investing $6 million in the annual baseline budget for Homeless Young Adult beds.

The Adams administration has made the largest investment in New York City history in creating specialized shelter beds to address street homelessness. The city has opened 1,400 Safe Haven and stabilization beds since the start of the administration and doubled the number of street outreach teams. In February 2022, Mayor Adams launched the Subway Safety Plan to address public safety concerns and support people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, including some of the city's hardest-to-reach New Yorkers experiencing mental health and substance use challenges on New York City's subways. Since the start of the plan, over 8,000 New Yorkers have been connected to shelter, with over 2,800 now in permanent, affordable housing. A key part of the Subway Safety Plan is the co-response programs, such as Partnership Assistance for Transit Homelessness (PATH) and Subway Co-Response Outreach Teams (SCOUT), which bring together law enforcement and trained clinicians to conduct outreach on subways. Since the beginning of PATH, the administration has contacted over 7,400 unhoused New Yorkers and delivered services to over 2,200 people.

"The senseless acts of violence we've seen across New York City should not be happening, and those suffering from severe mental illness should get the care they need," said New York State Senator Jessica Scarcella-Spanton. "As we work together to pass my bill at the state level, the Supportive Interventions Act, we need to ensure that the proper resources are in place to support those who need the help. We need to continue to work together to get those in crisis help and make our communities safer."

"I've had the opportunity to collaborate with leadership at Bellevue to address health needs in our community and across the city. I know this world-class institution can help lead the way in addressing the closely intertwined issues of mental illness and homelessness," said New York State Assemblymember Harvey Epstein. "Without a stable living environment and supports, it's hard for individuals in crisis to move forward with their lives and get well. Today's announcement is a critical step towards ensuring that people in crisis are able to get the support they need to live productive lives. I look forward to working with the city and leadership at Bellevue to ensure an effective rollout of this program that treats individuals with dignity and compassion,"

"In a city where one in ten people experiences serious psychological distress, and only half receive treatment, we must do everything we can to bring people the help they need. I commend Mayor Adams for this common sense $650 million investment to address the crisis among our mentally ill and homeless New Yorkers," said New York State Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar. "This comprehensive plan provides over 1,000 new Safe Haven beds, Runaway and Homeless Youth Beds, and beds for discharged patients with serious mental illness. These will be welcoming environments to support and uplift vulnerable New Yorkers who have no other safe housing option, putting them on the path to treatment and stable housing. This builds upon the administration's extensive homeless outreach and services that have already moved 8,000 people from the subways into shelter and transitioned 18,500 households into permanent housing. I am building on this success by introducing the Empire State of Mind Act, which will provide unprecedented access to mental healthcare. Together, we will bring support and care to all New Yorkers, allowing everyone to enjoy dignity, safety, and stability."

"Mental illness, particularly among our unhoused population, has contributed to a troubling rise in random acts of violence and a heightened sense of unease in our city," said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez. "Addressing this crisis requires thoughtful, compassionate action, and I commend the mayor for his proposals aimed at providing treatment, housing, and support, rather than relying on arrest and incarceration. While no single initiative can solve these complex challenges, investments in compassionate, evidence-based approaches will improve public safety and help restore a sense of security for all New Yorkers."

"Individuals with severe mental illness require specialized services to help them get the care they need," said New York City Councilmember and Health Committee Chair Lynn Schulman. "Today's announcement by Mayor Adams of a significant funding investment in supportive beds and comprehensive treatment is a big step in the right direction to address this important issue."

"We have seen the homelessness and mental health crises playing out on our streets for far too long," said New York City Councilmember Keith Powers. "No one should have to spend a night on the street, particularly children. Shelter beds are a crucial measure to bring people inside and out of the elements, and to begin the process of connecting them to long-term, stable housing. Investments like these are vital to making our city safer, all while building sustainable solutions for those who are unhoused."

"Mayor Adams' plan represents the holistic approach we need to truly address the crisis of street homelessness and support New Yorkers with severe mental illness," said New York City Councilmember Mercedes Narcisse. "These are some of our most vulnerable neighbors, and they need an aggressive yet sensitive approach that combines compassionate care with tangible resources. Programs like 'Bridge to Home' and the expansion of Safe Haven beds are crucial steps toward breaking the cycle of homelessness and ensuring that no one is left behind. We must act with urgency and empathy to restore dignity and hope to these New Yorkers."

###

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.