New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) announced a plan on Friday to keep homeless people from sheltering and sleeping in the subway system.
Adams, who previously said he felt “unsafe” riding the city’s subway system, said the city will now require all passengers to leave both the train and the station at the end of their ride — and will enforce the rules with police officers.
Police will also enforce the subway’s rules including bans on occupying more than one seat, showing aggression toward other passengers and littering trash, The New York Times reported.
“We are not going to wait until someone shoves a person onto the tracks,” Adams said at a news conference. “We are going to engage New Yorkers who are unhoused or dealing with mental health crises.”
The announcement comes about a month after two people were pushed off the edge of the subway platform and onto the train tracks. One woman was killed and a man injured in separate incidents.
The mayor argued the policy wasn’t about “arresting people” but about “arresting a problem” and said people would not get in trouble for minor infractions.
He also announced efforts to boost housing, mental health treatment and shelter services for New Yorkers. The subway action plan includes 30 joint response teams to connect people in crisis with services and weekly staff meetings for city leaders involved in a task force to tackle the issue.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) joined Adams during the announcement. She supported the push to help the homeless population.
“This is long overdue. We see New Yorkers clearly suffering in plain sight,” Hochul said. “And people have long thought the rules and regulations required them to just be left there and ignored?”
The number of people experiencing homelessness in New York City is the highest since the Great Depression, with nearly 50,000 people counted last December, according to the Coalition for the Homeless.
Adams said the “vast majority” of homeless people were not dangerous, but he didn’t want “fear to become reality.”
“We are not going to live in fear and frustration,” he said. “We have to dam every river if we are going to address this issue.”