Homelessness (which often, but not always, goes hand in hand with mental illness) is an epidemic in NYC (as well as other cities) and should be treated as such. Instead of waiting to build homes, which are shot down by the NIMBY folk or find more psych beds, cities need to take more aggressive measures. During the height of the pandemic, the Javits Center was going to essentially be used as a hospital. That level of thinking is going to be required to address the situation cities face today. Ships. Shipping containers (a la Qatar). Everything should be on the table. Combine this with security, aides, some level of nursing care and telemedicine psychiatry, with medication delivery. It can be done. Requires the willpower to do it.

50 more psych beds won’t cut it.