NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: Questions Loom Over Mental Health Proposal, How a Trade War Could Impact NY’s Energy Costs, Adult Protective Services Assisting Fewer New Yorkers and Free Things to do in February

Episode Date: February 5, 2025

New York State lawmakers are questioning a proposal to force more people into mental health treatment. Plus, a top Canadian diplomat is warning New York lawmakers about the potential impact of tariffs. Also, WNYC’s Michael Hill and David Brand discuss new data that show New York City’s Adult Protective Services is serving fewer New Yorkers, even though thousands more people are being referred to it for help. And finally, we share a few free events happening across the city this month.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Jenae Pierre. We begin in Albany, where New York State lawmakers are questioning a proposal to force more people into mental health treatment. The new standard would permit authorities to put people in treatment if they're unable to provide for their own essential needs. State Senator Liz Kruger says taking more people off the street won't work unless there are enough beds and caregivers available. What I see is the problem is once they get into a hospital, whether voluntary or involuntary, they're not getting the care they need, and then they're being released. The state mental health commissioner, Ann Sullivan, says hospitals have enough capacity.

A top Canadian diplomat is warning New York lawmakers about the potential impact of tariffs. WMYC's Jimmy Vilkine has that story. Tom Clark, the Canadian Consul General in New York, says terrorists proposed by the Trump administration would have a specific impact on New York. Officials say the state does nearly $43 billion of trade each year with Canada. President Donald Trump said Monday that he was pausing the tariffs for 30 days after Canadian officials agreed to spend more on border security. Clark wants something more permanent. We're glad that for the average New Yorker, they're not going to be hurt in the way that they could have been hurt if these tariffs had gone ahead. What we need to see is

the threat of tariffs removed entirely. Clark says one of the first impacts would be in higher energy costs. One city agency is falling way short of its goal to help the most vulnerable New Yorkers. Still ahead, we break down the shortcomings of New York City's adult protective services. Stay close. Coordinating medical care, housing assistance, and the prevention of financial exploitation. Those are just a few of the things New York City's adult protective services is responsible for. But new city data show the agency is serving fewer New Yorkers,

even though thousands more people are being referred to it for help. My colleague Michael Hill talked with WMYC's David Brand for a better understanding of all of this. Tell us more about what this agency does and what the latest data show, please. Well, adult protective services is a really important agency in New York City. Staff intervene to help adults who have physical or mental impairments that leave them vulnerable to abuse, neglect, exploitation, financial problems. And so the agency staff will help end that elder abuse, or they'll set people up with home health care or transportation.

And in some cases, they even provide housing assistance, like a voucher to help pay the rent moving forward. What happens is someone will get referred to this agency by a lawyer or a neighbor or a family member even. City marshals before carrying out an eviction also have to contact adult protective services. But what we're seeing is that more and more people in the city are getting those referrals. and at the same time the city is accepting fewer of those people into this program where they can actually get the services.

What are the numbers exactly, David? Well, they're stark. The agency received 1,700 more referrals between July and October compared to that time period the previous year, but the number of people they were serving actually decreased by 32 during that time. That's part of a growing trend that we've been covering here over the past year. So let's go back to 2022 when the agency got 19. thousand four hundred referrals and had a caseload of about 5,500 people. Two years later,

2024, it had 29,400 referrals, 10,000 more, but the caseload was about the same. What is adult protective services? What is it saying the reason for the rise in denials? So the Department of Social Services runs adult protective services. And what department officials say is that evictions are driving a lot of this increase. The number of evictions has gone up significantly since a statewide moratorium that was put in place during the pandemic ended in 2022. So more people facing eviction, I mentioned before, Marshalls, before carrying out an eviction, have to determine whether a person living in the apartment is an older adult, is a person with disability, or otherwise has some type of impairment. And so they're making more

of these calls to adult protective services. A department spokesperson told me that most of the people don't actually meet the strict criteria for services that adult protective services has. And if they determine someone was getting evicted because of their mental or physical impairment, they might open the case. But if not, they're going to reject them. There's another thing that could be driving these numbers. New York City has a housing voucher program. And there's only a few ways to qualify. You know, most people get this voucher only after entering a homeless shelter.

But another way to qualify is if adult protective services finds you eligible. so people are getting referred as a last resort. So these denials, as you mentioned, David, they're high. How are the people who work with older New Yorkers? How are they responding? Because if the denials were so high, where are people turning to to get help? Well, they're disturbed by the data, and they say it validates their anecdotal experiences. Daniel Barkley is head of elder law at the nonprofit legal services, New York City.

What we see with distressing frequency is denials, after what we would consider very incomplete or ineffective assessments. I also spoke with Councilmember Crystal Hudson about this. She chairs the Committee on Aging. She says the number of aging New Yorkers has risen dramatically. So there are now a half million more people over age 65 in the city than there were 20 years ago. But she says there are also fewer workers at Adult Protective Services and other social service agencies to review these cases and connect people with services.

We also have a workforce that is understaffed. And so, you know, folks simply, it seems like, just can't keep up with the demand. Hudson says in response to our reporting, she's planning to hold a council hearing to get more answers. And we'll be paying close attention to that. That's WMYC is David Brand talking with my colleague, Michael Hill. Living in New York City can get expensive. But there are some free things you can go out and do in February, which,

which is also Black History Month. WMYC's Art and Culture reporter, Hannah Frischberg, shares a couple things people can check out if they want to commemorate Black Heritage in our area. The Harlem Chamber Players have a whole program worth of music. They've got a string quartet at the Brooklyn Public Library's main branch on February 9th. And they've also got a show at the Schoenberg Center on February 13th. And then also there's a community art event happening in Prospect Park.

It's called Peace Over Prejudice, and that's on Sunday, February 16th. Hannah says there's a few other free events happening in the city this month, and they're not just in Manhattan or Brooklyn. Staten Island has a pretty cool event, too. They're having a plantable paper workshop at the Greenbelt Native Plant Center, which I've never actually been to the Greenbelt Native Plant Center specifically, but I have been to the Greenbelt, and I highly recommend it. A lot of New Yorkers don't know about it, this insane swath of park and forest land in the middle of Staten Island.

You'll really feel transported. And if you go there for the workshop, you can use recycled. pulp embedded with seeds so that you can plant paper to make plants. That's WMYC's Hannah Frischberg. A quick heads up, New York City is suspending alternate side parking rules for Thursday, ahead of some wintry weather, but parking meters will remain in effect. If you haven't heard yet, the National Weather Service is issuing a winter weather advisory for the New York City area Thursday.

The service is forecasting an inch or two of snow, and that precipitation is anticipated to turn into sleet and rain Thursday morning. Be careful. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day. I'm Jenae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.