Matthew McDermott
New York City lawmakers are ramping up pressure on Gov. Kathy Hochul to reopen long-shuttered psychiatric hospitals, arguing a severe shortage of long-term beds is feeding the city’s homelessness and public safety crises.
The City Council’s Common Sense Caucus, a group of bipartisan lawmakers, sent a letter to Hochul Wednesday urging her to bring back large state-run facilities in the five boroughs to ease the strain on the Big Apple’s shelter system.
“Removing the mentally ill from the shelter system would .. help other unhoused New Yorkers to feel safer when entering the system, and would enhance public safety by decreasing the amount of mental health calls our police and EMTs need to respond to every day,” the group wrote.
The lawmakers argued that the current capa

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