April 25, 2025 Expansion of Involuntary Commitment will not Work; Community Services Required (Albany) – As reports circulate that the Governor and the Legislature have agreed to expand involuntary commitment, a wide-ranging coalition of 39 mental health service providers, disability justice advocates, housing rights advocates, criminal justice reform advocates, other civil rights organizations, and individuals with lived mental health experience, renews its call for investment in proven solutions. The only way to solve our mental health crisis is to provide people the services and care they need. The solution to homelessness is not traumatizing arrests and transports by the police for hospitalization – it’s housing. A 72-hour forced hospital stay does not provide the sustained mental health treatment and services people with serious mental illness need. Instead, the State must invest in housing, Assertive Community Treatment, peer services, and other essential supports. Expanding involuntary commitment will not make New Yorkers healthier or our cities any safer. The coalition highlights its February letter that urged investment in a range of evidence-based services, including: Increasing funding for the Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative (ESSHI) and Housing First programs Enhancing the base ESSHI rate to $34,000 per year, as the Governor’s proposed enhancement is insufficient Expanding Housing First programs by immediately adding 750 more Housing First units statewide Increasing funding to expand peer services and family support programs – including INSET and Peer Bridger – for individuals with serious mental illness ($7.5 million) Funding of enhanced voluntary service packages ($16.5 million) Increased funding to expand Assertive Community Treatment ($15 million) A 7.8% inflationary adjustment to ensure an adequate mental health workforce and service provider systems. The letter was signed by: Alliance for Rights and Recovery Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled Brooklyn Defender Services Carla Rabinowitz CASES (The Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services) Center for Elder Law and Justice Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York Center for Justice, Civil Rights, and Liberties Coalition for the Homeless Community Access Disabled In Action of Metropolitan NY Fountain House Freedom Agenda Friends of Recovery-NY Harlem Independent Living Center Hour Children, Inc. Housing Conservation Coordinators Justice for Eudes Pierre Coalition Legal Action Center Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo, Inc. The Legal Aid Society Mental Health Association in New York State Mobilization for Justice NAACP Legal Defense Fund National Alliance on Mental Illness of New York City National Center for Law and Economic Justice New York Association on Independent Living New York Civil Liberties Union New York County Defender Services New York Lawyers for the Public Interest NMIC Queens Defenders Shams DaBaron, Da Homeless Hero Staten Island Center for Independent Living Surveillance Resistance Lab Urban Justice Center Mental Health Project VOCAL-NY VOICE Buffalo 504 Democratic Club
