 Hello, New York. It's Mayor Eric Adams, and I'm excited to welcome you to the Get Stuff Done cast Where I talk to New Yorkers from all walks of life who are getting stuff done in a real way And nothing personifies that more than the mental health crises that we're seeing in our streets at home on our workplaces All over our city not only pre-pandemic, but post-pandemic It's a real issue and real people are solving the problems. You don't see them every day But they are in front of the scene and behind the scene tackling this issue We have city employees who are doing outreach 24-7 But we also have not-for-profit partners that we work with that are doing 24-7 outreach as well and sometimes when people think of a mental health Issues or mental illness They think everyone fits into one category and that is not true our real focus that reason we zeroed in on Last year was a particular group as we helped everyone But we were really concerned about those who could not take care of their basic needs And they were in danger to themselves and others We put in place a real mental health strategy to focus on this and it was highlighted even more a few Weeks ago when we lost Jordan nearly it showed us how the coordination the effort the outreach is all part of the strategy Not only to focus on how he died But how he lived and what we need to do to ensure the other Jordans That are out there can get the hair and the help that they deserve it hurts me deeply You know my son name is Jordan So I think about it all the time and I want to do everything possible To be there for those who are in need without slipping through the cracks and so today I'm excited of one of my favorite commissioners Molly Park is here. She's our new commissioner of the Department of Social Services Surfaces and Xavier Shakespeare you were teased a lot with that last name, weren't you? One of our street outreach workers who's doing incredible work on the front lines of this crisis and I saw Xavier out in the system one day doing her thing Just conscientious compassionate caring kind all the things that you need to build trust on how to Really get this work done in a real in a real way. So let me start with you commissioner First, how did you get here? You know, what was the journey like? You know, what motivated you to do this work because you're not doing it because you're going to be a millionaire That's for sure. Thank you, mayor. I started in the affordable housing world and and I Really value the affordable housing world because there's so much that you can't do if you don't have a safe and secure place to live Right. It's hard to grow Educationally, it's hard to address health care issues It's hard to gross financial stability if you don't have safe affordable housing But in New York City, the housing and homelessness sectors are really bifurcated Historically and I wanted to be the one one of the people who could break down those silos and who because people who are experiencing Homelessness they may end up in our shelter system for lots of different reasons But fundamentally what they have or what they don't have is a home, right? So it is at the end of the day homelessness is a housing issue And I wanted to be one of the the few people who could speak both languages Interesting and they almost go hand-in-hand because if you're dealing with this very mental health illness It's difficult to keep a home. It's difficult for you to be on top of the necessary things that it takes to hold on to your home and So this almost is is an easy transition for you. Absolutely, mr. Mayor It's circular if you don't have a home It's very hard to achieve mental health stability and if you but if you are struggling with mental illness It can be very difficult to keep the home So working with Department of Homeless Services to try and connect people to housing and then also working on the social service side to try and Get people the supports that they need to hang on to the housing that they have. It's really important to me Xavier you out there doing some difficult work. You're on the ground is one thing for people who are in Clean safe sterilized environments to talk about the work that you're doing a rebuilding trust You know, what motivated you and how did you get on this line of work on this pathway? Well, I started out in the shelter system. I've been in the shelter system for about 10 years That was my always my passion social work So I graduated with a degree in social work Services and I've worked in various shelter systems from adults to Families, I've been a DV counselor and I've also done senior the first senior homeless shelter So I was a housing specialist there and what I was focused on was finding them housing But I said, you know what I want to start to begin it to figure out why they're here So I transitioned over to DHS into the street with homeless solution Interesting and to answer that question for us why they're here. It's a lot of issues, right? so a lot of them come in and they say they don't it's support and so illness is big and Just trust, you know, they don't trust the system. They don't trust Anyone they come in contact with society in itself. So a lot of people sit family. Mm-hmm So family structure is big to a lot of people come in and say they don't have a lot of family support They don't have a lot of financial support and then the housing market is another big issue so when you by now, I'm sure that you could Look at a potential client and know if it's going to be challenging or not How do you start that an issue trust-building interaction? So I do understand that it can take us hundreds of engagements and interactions, right? Because they don't know me and I'm a stranger just like everyone else in the streets That's a very important point that you just raised people often say But why can't you just walk up to them and get them off the system as and as you stated it takes Hundreds of interactions a lot of patience. Yes, you know a lot of you know for leather words being thrown at you And you got to just stay disciplined, you know, and so what is that interaction walk us through? Here's the person you clearly see that there's something wrong They are you know, maybe soil clothing maybe talking to themselves yelling How do you make that interaction? Well, I try to interact with each person as if I already know them, right? Because when you come stranger to you know, a stranger walks up to you kind of like so I'm like, hey How are you nice to see you again? Even if I've never seen them again I'm nice to see you again because they don't know they've been on the train for or outside for a long time How are you? My name is Xavier. I work for the Department of Home and Services and I want to see what I can do to help you Can you tell me what it is that I can offer to you? What service I can offer to you that you need right now that I could Give to you right now and a lot of times they're like, you know what? I just want my own place Okay, so let's start at the beginning What do you mean by you want your own place because what we can offer to you right now? We have like the low barrier housings like safe havens or would you like to start of our? Welcome centers a lot of the times we cannot start with shelter We have to start with another option because of the misconception of how shelters are run what they look like And what happens there? I try to start and another give them another option So we start there and talking about what a safe haven and stabilization and what we offer there And you know, it's most it's not as hands-on maybe like a shelter It's not as many people because you know that's an issue having a lot of people in one area Right, so we just give them providing with the information And if they're closer soil now we have clothing at our station some of our station nice nice So we can walk with them over to our closet Hey, we have these things available for you also and then we start off with all right right now All we need is your name and date of birth. Nothing else, right? We start with the name and date of birth we call in we tell them what options are available We give them multiple options if they have a safe haven or the shelter And we allow them to make a decision because a lot of times they want to make a decision on their lives And that's understandable tragic reality of severe mental illness is that some who suffer from it are at times unaware of their own need for care And all too often they're caught up in the cycle of violence Sometimes as perpetrators or far more often as victims In many cases and through no fault of their own They resist treatment walk away from a chance for recovery And disappear into the shadows Top three reasons people don't go inside based on your observation curfew Interesting. I don't like coming home either. You know, they call me the nightlife man. I'm out a lot Curfew is a big thing for them. No one wants to really be told what time to come in so DHS is kind of you know Been a little bit more relaxed on the curfew. We've pushed it back for those shelters, right? they also It's image. Okay My mind of okay stuff of the interaction with someone else. They've been on the street of how shelters are run What they look like what happens there and we kind of got to get clear and let them know You know, it's not always like that but we have other options like our safe havens and stabilization beds that are small and more intimate if you do not feel comfortable in such a large setting and Just the general mistrust Okay, large-level mistrust level mistrust so that that approach that you do is a way of bringing down that distrust Right Interesting. Is it different breaking down those walls of distrust based on the age of the person? Cuz I'm seeing more and more young people that are out there the young people now I wouldn't say that it's more difficult Because they have more information. Mm-hmm our older population. They are based in off of the old ways Okay, so it's easier for us to get a younger person to go in especially if it's something like the hotel setting So they're like, okay, I'm gonna go in I'm not gonna start off like I did it like someone would at Bethel, Atlantic We're right. I'm going into where it's myself and one other person And then I can have a case manager come in and work on a 101 and they feel like it's more intimate Okay, so it's easier for us to get the younger crowded because they have that information Commissioner Xavier gave me three reasons why people refused to come in Give me three based on your Observation throughout the years. What are three of the path ways that people find themselves homeless that you found? Like what is some of the three of the reasons that a person is homeless? I met the other day before you answer that I met a former one of my former police officers who was homeless and And you know, I remember walking away from he stopped me saw me was hey, you don't remember me And we started talking I realized who he was and I wanted to ask so badly What happened? So like what are the three top reason that you notice that people find themselves homeless? I mean underlying all of the reasons for homelessness. I think is the Nature of the housing market and income inequality in New York City, right? We have in New York City more than half a million households who earn less than $30,000 a year and are paying more than 50% of their income in rent So that is a very narrow definition of housing instability and it's half a million households, right? It's so many people any one of those households is an emergency away from from needing shelter system, right? So that's why that is why as you take down the list why it was important for us to settle a Union contract with DC 37 that paid them a good wage so they can actually stay in the city that they are building and No paying our police officers a good salary as well and Settling these contracts where we are Ensuring that it's you know our city employees or 300 over 300,000 are able to pay You know the rent the food the utilities, you know, so that is a very important issue Absolutely, whether or not you can afford your housing is a function not only of how expensive the housing is but how much you earn, right? So I think you start with this Foundation of of income inequality and really high housing costs and then you layer on you know a healthcare emergency Which could be you know in for some people it's it's a behavioral health crisis, but in other cases, right? It's a physical health issue where you rack up crazy health bills, right? I think domestic violence Particularly for women is a huge driver For shelter and for for need for our services people think of domestic violence You know I grew up in a household where domestic domestic violence was present and they think of it solely as the physical violence But you know economic violence is just as bad, you know if you can't afford to leave You're you're almost in trap in a situation and we have shelters that's that solely deal with domestic violence cases Yes, so the Human Resources Administration HRA Manages a domestic violence shelter system that is specifically for people for survivors of domestic violence But even within the DHS system Something like 50% of heads of household in the family system have a domestic violence history So I would say that is an overwhelming driver of homelessness in New York City Again layered on to the unaffordable housing market and I think for a third reason I mean there are so many pathways really every every household is and every client is unique But I do think the lack of family supports that that Xavier mentioned is is really important, right? Most of those half a million households are actually not gonna come to us But the the people who do need our services are those for whom their their personal safety net just doesn't exist Wow, and that's why Dr. Fassan says all the time you that we need community, you know, we need care and There's a series of things that we need to not only stabilize those who are homeless But to stabilize those who are going through a mental health illness if you could have community and care of Someone is there to give you the support that you need, you know now on the subway system You're seeing, you know, sort of repeated Personnel repeated clients How do you those who have those bad experiences? How do you talk them through to you know? Come back inside and may have been a bad experience But we want you to come back inside. What are the methods that you use when we Engage the client that are known to us. It's just us reengaging and kind of figure out, okay So last time we saw you we placed you here. Can you tell us what was the issue and They usually do I like that they usually tell us like oh, I didn't it was too far Or if they do have a family some of us do have family It's way too far for my family while I don't visit them too often when I Choose to if I'm in if I'm placed in the Bronx in there in Brooklyn, it just takes it's too far out of my way Right, right. Okay. So now we'll call back and try to find somewhere that's closer to your family unit Got it or medical or Employment anything whatever issue they have we're just trying to figure out. How can we best fix this issue? I Remember one day we were in the subway system. I was talking to a gentleman on the bench he had no shoes on he was sitting there and we started talking and he was extremely intelligent and We were engaged he was able to talk about some of the mental health challenges that he had and Your team was able to get there And I love that pitch actually have that picture my office the two of us chatting there There must be in all of the challenges of the job You have to have some type some days that you say, you know what yes, it was a victory, you know I do I have a short story. Yes. I remember I've heard about two months ago. I Was actually placed in the client and they scored in him to our transportation vehicle and I gave someone screaming Miss miss and I'm like I have to finish with this client I'll adjust the client in a second I turn as I place the client on the transportation vehicle and I'm returning like yes, sir How may I help he said do you remember me? I'm so sorry Hundreds of clients every night, right? I'm sorry. He says it's okay But I met you a few months ago and we talked and you place me in the Bronx and you told me you listen You get there you work with the case managers you work at husband's you do your part They do they part and you're gonna move out you're gonna get your own place and he digs in his pocket He brings out a key and he's shaking he says I have my own apartment and I want to say thank you So it does work We're doing does work And you think about the over 4,000 people who we got off the system some went back, you know We're honest about it. We're transparent some stayed out some went with family members But we didn't walk by them. We did not ignore them We did we were not afraid of the challenge that we were facing and it's like those good community Relationships like I'm so proud of what Norman Segal is doing with the volunteer Terrorism and the project of just being out there. He's keep building over and over again I was at one of his recruitment with college students and they were eager to get out there every day New Yorkers can do something To assist their fellow New Yorkers one of my favorite days is when on Wednesday nights at 9 p.m I go out and feed the homeless on 34th Street I get so much out of it, but that's the relationship. How does our DSS work with community organizations in other New Yorkers? To get people on our streets and subways to the help they need I know there's some partnerships, but you can't do it alone. We absolutely can't do it alone Our not-for-profit partners are a really important part of what we do We have city employees who are doing outreach 24-7, but we also have Not-for-profit partners that we work with that are doing 24-7 outreach as well And then, you know, we've talked already about the safe havens in the stabilization beds Those are all operated by not-for-profit organizations One of the things that is is terrific is that we've managed to build that universe of these low barrier beds really significantly We've opened 800 additional beds in this administration. We've added these welcome centers I think Xavier mentioned them the idea there being that, you know When it's two o'clock in the morning and you haven't slept and you haven't showered and you haven't eaten It's really hard to make a good decision about what your placement is going to be So let's get you inside and we'll sort it out in the morning, right? So we are bringing more and more not-for-profits in to do to do that work to operate those programs And there's no way we could do any of this without them But it goes beyond that you mentioned the the street homeless advocacy project We're really grateful for the work that Norman Siegel does to bring others into the outreach work And then every day New Yorkers if you see an individual that you're concerned about call 311, right? We get those calls and we will send out an outreach team either DHS staff or not-for-profit staff So this is, you know, nobody has to ignore their fellow human beings We're all in it together and we can all work together. Yes No, I believe that whole heartedly my first few months in office going out visiting people in encampments Intents and I just said I cannot walk past New York is like this no matter how difficult it is You know, we talked about the importance of ensuring New Yorkers in need have access to adequate mental health services Can you just talk about in a few moments left how we are making that happen in New York City? This is another place where we absolutely can't do it alone We work very very closely with our health care partners But the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and H&H so that we are connecting people to the resources The State Office of Mental Health in addition We're really thrilled that the state government is really actually finally investing in services for mental health services and Eventually long-term mental health beds, which I think is incredibly important One of the things that that is driving what we see every day is the fact that over the last decades, right? The state has really disinvested in in Inpatient mental health care So I think that's really exciting But we're really trying to assess each client and connect them to the services in some cases It's actually in the safe haven in the stabilization bed in the shelter But but because the goal is permanent housing We don't want people to be dependent on the services in their site So those community referrals whether it is with the government, you know Team we have shelter-based act teams. We work with the IMT teams or to a medical professional in the community Those referrals are really important to what we do. No, well said. Well said listen, I want to thank both of you, you know for coming in and You know you you inherited a very Complex time in our city, but I think history is going to look back on The two of you and your teams the countless number of people thousands of people out there are doing a job Both for city employees as volunteers as NGOs as local community-based Organizations they're rolling up their sleeves and they're saying they want to help and you know I'm a big believer when you deposit into the social bank of life You could draw an equity when you need it and I'm sure that you have you guys have a lot of equity Waiting for you when you need it. Thank you so much. Thank you very much And this is the information I wanted to share today I hope to see you for another episode of get stuff done cast