Blaz joining vet anti-suicide push

Mayor de Blasio recently committed to having New York City join a federal veteran suicide prevention program after Rep. Max Rose slammed him for being “MIA” on the issue, the Daily News has learned.

City Veterans’ Services Commissioner Loree Sutton said in a previously unreported Oct. 7 letter to Rose (D-S.I., Brooklyn) that de Blasio will reverse course and begin participating in the so-called “Mayor’s Challenge” starting next year.

The Veterans’ Services Department “has always planned to participate in the second cohort for the Mayor’s Challenge, which should begin in the spring of 2020,” Sutton said.

“We look forward to … future Mayor’s Challenges and other veteran suicide prevention initiatives.”

City Hall spokesman

Will BaskinGerwitz said veteran suicide prevention is “an issue near and dear to the mayor’s heart.”

As first reported by The News, Rose (inset), a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, lambasted de Blasio in an August letter after learning the mayor had in April 2018 opted out of joining the program, which was launched by the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department and helps city governments expand suicide prevention services for members of the armed forces. “Ending veteran suicide needs to be all hands on deck and I’m happy to see the mayor and his team take this seriously,” Rose said Wednesday. “New York City needs to lead the country in looking out for and taking care of our veterans, and I look forward to continuing to work to ensure we’re living up to that challenge.”

Hizzoner’s statements come a day after NYPD Sgt. Linhong Li, a Marine Corps vet who served in Iraq, killed himself in his Queens home. He’s the 10th city police officer to commit suicide this year.

Li’s neighbors said he and his wife were renovating the house since they moved in. “They seemed to be content, they were fixing up the home,” Teresa Amodio, 54, said.