
Days after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo started to deploy MTA police and outreach workers to decrease homelessness in the subway system, the de Blasio administration says it's expanding its own efforts.
This week, the MTA and state social service agency, the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, began a new initiative at the end-of-the-line stations. Now, the city says the NYPD and Department of Homeless Services are expanding their homeless outreach in those stations as well.
“All New Yorkers should feel safe and comfortable on public transit,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. “With this collaborative partnership, we’re striking the right balance.”
The city is also creating an interagency command center to focus on the "entrenched" homeless — those who’ve been offered shelter and other services by homeless outreach teams at least 50 times — and who’ve refused them. Those centers will also have access to live CCTV feeds, which would allow homeless outreach teams to be deployed in real time.
“Now we're talking about camera feeds, talking about quality-of-life issues,” said Giselle Routhier, policy director at the Coalition for the Homeless. “There's still no talk of increasing access to supportive housing, increasing the number of homeless set-aside units, increasing the number of safe haven beds available to people. It just doesn't make any sense, and it's not getting at the crux of the problem.”