Yang’s healthy insight

If Andrew Yang previously had shown the insight and fortitude he did when speaking about the mentally ill homeless during the latest mayoral debate, he would be doing a lot better in the polls.

“Mentally ill homeless men are changing the character of our neighborhoods,” he said, citing a friend of his wife in her Hell’s Kitchen moms’ group who was punched in the face by a lunatic.

“This is happening in New York City and we’re not talking enough about it. Families are leaving as a result. In East Harlem . . . the Upper West Side, the neighborhood has been changed . . . Yes, mentally ill people have rights, but [so do] the people and families of the city. We have the right to walk the street and not fear for our safety because a mentally ill person is going to lash out at us.”

Yang was late to recognize that law and order is the priority for New York voters, but at least he finally told the truth about this rapidly deteriorating city.

It’s not for lack of money or housing, considering Mayor de Blasio has thrown billions at the problem and the homeless have had free room and board in nice hotel rooms for a year.

I asked a wise psychiatrist friend if there was a solution, because there’s nothing compassionate about leaving the mentally ill to live in chaos. In a nutshell, he advocates a type of Marshall Plan with an army of mental health counselors dispensing psychiatric medication, as needed, along with long-acting naltrexone or Antabuse to block the effect of drugs and alcohol. Any mentally ill homeless person who commits a crime is sentenced to locked hospitalization followed by long probation with drug testing. There’s more to it for a future airing, but good for Yang for breaking ranks.