Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday released his sprawling plan to fix the Big Apple’s mental health crisis — ticking off many of the issues rival Mayor Eric Adams has already been pushing for.
Cuomo, who is vying to unseat Adams as New York City’s mayor, unveiled more than a dozen proposals to help get people with severe mental illness off the streets, including expanding involuntary hospitalizations and increasing psychiatric beds.
But many of the key elements bear striking similarities to ones already rattled off by Hizzoner during his current stint in City Hall.
“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” an Adams’ administration source told The Post after Cuomo’s plan dropped.
“Especially when it comes to cleaning up situations created by the imitator.”
One of Cuomo’s main focuses would be removing those who are a danger to themselves from the streets, according to his 36-page proposal.
As part of the plan, Cuomo has vowed to expand the use of court orders under Kendra’s Law — mainly by requiring “universal screening” when people are discharged from public hospitals and from Rikers Island jail.
Adams, for his part, has long called for the state law to be strengthened so the city can commit people suffering from severe mental illness for longer.
Cuomo has also called for adding between 100 to 200 new inpatient psychiatric beds within the city’s Health and Hospitals system in a bid to keep mentally ill perps out of Rikers.
The additional inpatient beds are up from the 100-odd new beds Hizzoner touted during his State of the City speech earlier this year to tackle the crisis.
The former governor, too, floated boosting supportive housing units from 500 to 1,600 per year — up from the 900 “Safe Haven” beds promised by Adams to house the homeless and transition them to permanent housing.
Cuomo also highlighted how the city needs to tap into involuntarily removing homeless people from the streets who can’t meet their basic needs — a policy expansion that was put in place nearly three years ago under the Adams admin following a spate of horrifying subway attacks.
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