Homelessness

‘Treated and Streeted’: How Even a Massive Safety Net Fails Homeless People

New York City's $30-billion social safety net cannot reliably get a homeless person in psychiatric crisis out of the subway and into a hospital bed, a Streetsblog investigation has found.

By Nolan Hicks

12:02 AM EDT on September 23, 2025

‘Treated and Streeted’: How Even a Massive Safety Net Fails Homeless People

The Big Apple’s $30-billion social safety net cannot reliably get a homeless person in psychiatric crisis out of the subway and into a hospital bed, a Streetsblog investigation has found.

Nolan Hicks

Nolan Hicks covered transportation, housing, public health and city agencies in the City Hall bureau for The New York Post from 2018-2024, most recently as the paper’s Senior Reporter for City Affairs. He previously worked as a City Hall and general assignments at The Austin American-Statesman from 2016-2018, where he uncovered self-dealing by a top aide to the city’s then-mayor that resulted in a federal investigation and guilty pleas. Before that, he was a reporter at the New York Daily News and the San Antonio Express-News. He joined Streetsblog in January 2025.

Homelessness | MTA | Streetsblog Investigates | Subway | subway police

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