The Subway Safety Plan

1 The Subway Safety Plan The Subway Safety Plan 1. Table of Contents The Subway Safety 3. Our 5. 11. 16. 17. 2 The Subway Safety Plan THE Subway Safety PLAN. New York City subways are the lifeblood of our city. They connect millions of working people to our jobs, homes, and neighborhoods every day, and help visitors from all over the globe explore the greatest city in the world. Yet for too long, our Subway system has also confronted a painful humanitarian challenge playing out right in front of our eyes. Too many New Yorkers experience homelessness in our stations and our trains each night.

2 Their challenges often begin long before that moment. Some have struggled with unmet mental health needs or substance misuse. Some are veterans, who have returned from service and have not received critical services. Still others have lost a job or the roof over their head, realities that have become all too common in the pandemic. All are our fellow New Yorkers. For too long, they have gone unseen by every level of government. That must change. We will see every New Yorker, and we will lead with compassion. Tragically, we have also seen violence on our Subway platforms and stations.

3 And while we know homelessness and violence do not equate and must not be conflated, we must also acknowledge that a small minority of individuals who may be experiencing several compounding challenges at once, including behavioral health challenges, must be reached with immediate interventions to prevent deterioration and potential danger. We have seen the lives of innocent New Yorkers taken, simply coming into a station to take a train. We have seen threats and dangerous situations that make our communities feel unsafe whether people are going to work, returning home, or visiting our city.

4 We cannot allow that to continue. We must address these concurrent, and sometimes interconnected, crises. We must do so in coordination with the MTA, New York State, and Federal partners who all play significant roles in keeping our subways and communities safe. Public Safety and justice are the highest priorities of the Adams Administration, and they go hand-in- hand. We can and will achieve both. We will protect all New Yorkers, including those experiencing homelessness and those with severe mental illness, and we will help every New Yorker receive the support they need.

5 The Subway Safety Plan 3. OUR CHALLENGE. We face two concurrent challenges: First, thousands of our fellow New Yorkers experience street homelessness each night, many in Subway stations across our city. Every person has their own story and challenges and deserves a unique path to help, whether through mental health care, treatment for substance use, or support finding a home. Second, our subways must be safe and feel safe for every person who enters them. As we emerge from COVID-19, the Subway system is a crucial piece of our economic recovery transporting students to school, helping workers back to offices, and allowing tourists to travel our city.

6 Our city's prosperity depends on everyone feeling confident and secure when they enter a station. We must immediately protect our people, including those experiencing homelessness and those with severe mental illness, who sadly are far more likely to be the victims of violence and crime. We must immediately help New Yorkers struggling to take the first step towards a better future a journey that the City will coordinate every step of the way, from their first moment out of the station to ongoing care and a permanent home. And we must examine the systemic challenges that have led New Yorkers to end up in this position, from a mental health crisis to a shortage of affordable housing.

7 Our Subway Safety Plan addresses the gaps in the system where too many have been lost. This plan recognizes that helping a person off our streets is only the first step of what the City can and must deliver and it outlines a three-part system that will seamlessly transition New Yorkers in need of care from: 1) outreach to 2) initial housing and mental health care to 3) permanent housing and community. We will do so by investing in three areas: People: Adding response teams throughout our city to connect with unhoused New Yorkers on our subways, meeting them where they are.

8 Places: Ensuring that these unhoused New Yorkers with multiple needs in our Subway system have both short- and longer-term destinations of care, support, and housing. Policies: Working with every level of government to begin the hard work of reforming our broken mental health and housing systems. 4 The Subway Safety Plan PEOPLE. Investing in our people is the most immediate step we can take to protect New Yorkers in our stations, and connect those experiencing homelessness to the care they need. With new Joint Response Teams ready to provide personalized support, new outreach teams to support mental health and wellbeing, and new collaboration across City agencies, we will help our fellow New Yorkers begin their journey to permanent housing and stable care, coordinated by the City every step of the way.

9 Immediate Action on Our Subways We will state without reservation that our subways exist to move paying customers from one point to another. They are not meant to house individuals or provide recreational space, and we will make it clear our stations and trains are not intended or available as an alternative. We will begin enforcing the Subway system 's rules of conduct, and do so transparently and fairly. We will also recognize: Enforcement without short- and long-term support, from mental health care to housing, will not solve this challenge.

10 One City Working Together The City will deploy up to 30 inter-agency collaborative teams that bring together the Department of Homeless Services (DHS), the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), the New York City Police Department (NYPD), and community- based providers in high-need locations across our city. To expand the number of clinicians who can refer individuals for assessment in hospitals, staff across agencies will be trained in assessments enabling better engagement and evaluation with individuals experiencing homelessness, their needs and connecting them to advanced services better suited to triage and provide for their care.