Failing the Homeless
Why does the greatest city in the world simply accept the countless number of broken people living on its streets? That’s the urgent question posed by David Marcus’ Post essay on his walkabout. Block after Midtown block, he saw them: “On every single side street, especially those with awnings of scaffolding, they are there. They are there dozing in filthy clothes or staring in a drug-addled dream state. The street has become their bedroom, bathroom and kitchen.”
We’re talking here about some homeless: the mentally ill and the drug addicts whose problems run far beyond a mere lack of housing.
They rant to themselves; they pass out and camp out in random spots; they suddenly assault passersby and shove straphangers to the tracks. They have even killed each other.
Cops sporadically play a sad game of whack-a-mole, breaking up encampments and temporarily rousting the regulars from, say, Penn Station. But the rest of the system does even less: Hospitals mostly run revolving-door operations for those brought in for evaluation and treatment.
COVID’s made them more visible, as a far larger share of those still walking the streets. But City Hall seems to expect the problem to solve itself, betting that the return of crowds will again mostly hide the human tragedies among us.
Yet mentally ill homeless, and the dangers they pose, are themselves a big reason for tourists and office workers not to come back: The regular spate of attacks by the deranged and the drug-addled makes the whole city look unsafe.
In any case, simply ignoring the tragedy and the horror is just inhumane. As is enabling it: How, exactly, was the legal-aid lawyer who recently spoke up to stop a judge from requiring a mental exam of his client truly serving that client’s interests?
The issue isn’t money, not in a city with a $99 billion budget. It’s about prioritizing getting these people the help they need — and refusing to go on letting them simply claim public space for their own.
Letting this so-called system continue to fail these homeless is the reverse of true compassion — for them and for all New York City.