Commuters In State Of Fear As NYC Homeless Choosing Penn Station Over Shelters

[Sugar Cookie]

Carlton Moore, 61, is one of the many homeless who is choosing to live on streets near Penn Station over New York City homeless shelters.

Moore, 61, who wears a colostomy bag and takes daily medication for his schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, has lived on the streets in every borough since he was a teenager — and knows that inside homeless shelters, he’ll have to sleep with one eye open.

Moore says New York City’s homeless shelters aren’t “peaches and cream.”

At Penn Station Moore says “the services are here, the help is here,” he told The Post from the transit hub last week. “If I need something, I can get it, and I’m protected.

Aid workers provide food, water, gift cards and cash - every day commuters and tourist to panhandle from.

Nathaniel Armstrong, a 57-year-old homeless man, likewise treats Penn Station as a home base because of officials’ hands-off, perk-filled approach.

“If you’re homeless and you need someplace to go, you go to Penn and you know BRC — one of the homeless organizations that comes to help in the evening — is going to be there to help.”

Moore and Armstrong are part of a growing cohort of destitute New Yorkers who’ve exited the “revolving door” of the city’s hellish homeless shelter system in favor of a relative life of leisure on the streets near Penn Station.

But the invasion of shelter-refusing homeless, many of whom are mentally ill, has brought increasing squalor, open drug use and the lingering threat of random violence to Penn Station — one of several Midtown tourist and commuter hotspots where city officials either turn a blind eye to chaos or are helpless to confront it.

Penn Station’s epidemic of troublesome homeless has prompted city-funded outreach that The Post saw firsthand often fall short, and which has been criticized by some top officials as mismanaged.

Many outreach workers won’t even do their jobs without NYPD backup, a law enforcement source told The Post.

“They ask the cops to go out with them because they don’t feel safe approaching the people,” the source said. “The cops just stand in the background. They don’t interact with the people.”

The city last year inked a $103 million contract for homeless outreach on the subways with the Bowery Residents’ Committee, despite the nonprofit coming under fire from watchdogs for essentially doing nothing, Gothamist first reported.

The group provided, “at best, minimal outreach services — often turning away those apparently seeking assistance and, at worst, seemingly ignoring homeless persons seeking assistance,” a 2019 MTA watchdog report found.

A BRC employee told The Post that they cover Penn Station, Grand Central Station and the subways, mostly to get the homeless into “low threshold” Safe Haven shelters that offer no curfew and more privacy as an alternative to city-run shelters.

Just 2% of all 99,000 outreach attempts citywide during 2022 led to a person checking into Safe Haven, according to a city comptroller report last year.

Amtrak Police also patrol Penn Station, but officers who spoke to The Post said there’s little they can do about homeless people unless they break rules.

They said they accompany outreach workers who offer shelter but estimated it is rejected 75% of the time.

A Post reporter followed “Amtrak Homeless Outreach” workers with clipboards and orange vests, who walked past five homeless people on the floor of Penn Station without stopping to talk.

The track to Penn Station for Moore came after a five-month stay at a Days Inn shelter in Brooklyn.

He liked his time at that shelter, where he had a private room. But when he was told he’d soon be transferred to Wards Island, a dorm-style shelter with a reputation for violence, he decided to leave altogether.

“I would rather be on the streets than on Wards Island,” he said.

Inside homeless shelters, there’ll be neighbors — perhaps even himself during a medical episode — “scratching bugs out” from their skin or scheming to steal his few possessions, Moore said.

“The shelters are worse than the ’70s and ’80s. The shelters are getting worse.”

Armstrong also said he’ll never go back to a shelter for fear of theft and violence.

“The shelters are not much better than prison,” he said. “I’ve been to prison, where danger looms 24/7, and it’s the same in the shelters.

He also likes the freedom being at Penn Station offers.

“If you go to a shelter or you go to prison, the security will say, ‘Do this,’ ‘Go here,’ ‘Get away from there,’ but at Penn, they’ll ask you to keep moving, then smile and walk away,” Armstrong said.

“They have to keep the area attractive, but as long as you follow the rules, nobody’s going to harass you,” he added. “It’s safe for the homeless here because if you stay in the areas they allow you to go, they consider you a traveler and the security extends to the homeless as well.”

Please read the complete article in link

Why throngs of NYC’s homeless are choosing Penn Station over shelters — and leaving commuters in a constant state of fear

Many homeless people have chosen to live on streets near Penn Station – where tourists, everyday New Yorkers and, especially, an army of aid workers provide food, water, gift cards and cash.

nypost.com

I found the comments from another forum very interesting -

First comment

They need to be either:
In a hospital
In rehab
In jail
At Momma's house

Pick one.

Some responses were as follows

- These pieces of sh!t definitely don't need to be pawned off on their own mothers if they still have them. The LAST thing elder and senior women need is to be burdened by their own ungovernable-ass sons.

- "Why isn't the city building insane asylums just as they're building illegal immigrant shelters????"

- It's not lost on me how so many homeless guys are ex cons. A lot of them are on sëx offender registries. And it seems 100% of them know they need medication and/or treatment to deal with their issues, and they refuse to cooperate and become functional citizens that contribute to society. But they're left free to terrorize and traumatize the masses.

- A lot of these homeless MEN know how to work the system and play games to avoid doing the right thing (not bothering people 24/7). As far as I know, the homeless shelters require you to go out and look for work or something; you can't lay in the bed all day. These men want money for nothing and think they can bully people into giving it to them. There are tons of shelters available and a lot of these men are actually assigned to a shelter bed but will refuse to go. They'd rather come to the hospital and bully ED staff for sandwiches, blankets, and other nonsense while scaring other patients and urinating all over the floor.

-We need to bring back institutionalization for the severely mentally ill, mentally challenged and drug addicted. Majority of homeless fall under one of those categories. Unfortunately institutions were demonized on both sides of the political spectrum- for being "inhumane" by the left and also for being too soft/ a waste of taxpayer money by the right, who subsequently defunded the majority of them back in the 80s.

Very sad fact, but there will always be people who despite all efforts, will never be able to function properly in society. Homelessness is not a matter of "innocent" people falling on hard times like regular folk are led to believe. Turning them loose on the street to fend for themselves and be a nuisance to the general public is not progressive nor humane and is not a solution.

The best comment

- If you are schizophrenic, bipolar, mentally ill why are u afraid to be around other schizophrenic and mentally ill people in the shelter. And why do you think other people should enjoy being around you?

My opinion

I think a great solution might be to actually create facilities on the sites of closed mental institutions where "well trained staff" can help the homeless with daily living skills, medication management and vocational skills and drug treatment.

The living environment should be dormitory style with single room occupancy, a common area/kitchen and depending on the size staff who monitor and supervise the occupants.

Floors and/or wings should have the same population so that their needs can be addressed efficiently.

Example people designated as Mentally Ill Chemical Abuser (s) should be housed together so they can have medication management, mental health services and drug counseling.

Those who are designated with Mental Health Issues but not drug issues should be placed separately. If they have a physical disability, cognitive disability they will be physically and emotionally protected. They may also be suffering from PTSD from child abuse.

Those who are violent need to be in a locked down section with security.

All staff need to be well trained, well paid and respected by the higher ups. Staff needs to be protected and have access to mental health services to discuss the trauma and stress working with population creates.

Woman with children should be placed in the community with supports - no boyfriends allowed to stay over and not allowed to visit unless fully vetted with no criminal background.

 

[hiitsme]

View attachment 113927

Carlton Moore, 61, is one of the many homeless who is choosing to live on streets near Penn Station over New York City homeless shelters.















Please read the complete article in link

Why throngs of NYC’s homeless are choosing Penn Station over shelters — and leaving commuters in a constant state of fear

Many homeless people have chosen to live on streets near Penn Station – where tourists, everyday New Yorkers and, especially, an army of aid workers provide food, water, gift cards and cash.

nypost.com

View attachment 113928
View attachment 113931
View attachment 113930

I found the comments from another forum very interesting -

First comment



Some responses were as follows

- These pieces of sh!t definitely don't need to be pawned off on their own mothers if they still have them. The LAST thing elder and senior women need is to be burdened by their own ungovernable-ass sons.

- "Why isn't the city building insane asylums just as they're building illegal immigrant shelters????"

- It's not lost on me how so many homeless guys are ex cons. A lot of them are on sëx offender registries. And it seems 100% of them know they need medication and/or treatment to deal with their issues, and they refuse to cooperate and become functional citizens that contribute to society. But they're left free to terrorize and traumatize the masses.

- A lot of these homeless MEN know how to work the system and play games to avoid doing the right thing (not bothering people 24/7). As far as I know, the homeless shelters require you to go out and look for work or something; you can't lay in the bed all day. These men want money for nothing and think they can bully people into giving it to them. There are tons of shelters available and a lot of these men are actually assigned to a shelter bed but will refuse to go. They'd rather come to the hospital and bully ED staff for sandwiches, blankets, and other nonsense while scaring other patients and urinating all over the floor.

-We need to bring back institutionalization for the severely mentally ill, mentally challenged and drug addicted. Majority of homeless fall under one of those categories. Unfortunately institutions were demonized on both sides of the political spectrum- for being "inhumane" by the left and also for being too soft/ a waste of taxpayer money by the right, who subsequently defunded the majority of them back in the 80s.

Very sad fact, but there will always be people who despite all efforts, will never be able to function properly in society. Homelessness is not a matter of "innocent" people falling on hard times like regular folk are led to believe. Turning them loose on the street to fend for themselves and be a nuisance to the general public is not progressive nor humane and is not a solution.

The best comment

- If you are schizophrenic, bipolar, mentally ill why are u afraid to be around other schizophrenic and mentally ill people in the shelter. And why do you think other people should enjoy being around you?

My opinion

I think a great solution might be to actually create facilities on the sites of closed mental institutions where "well trained staff" can help the homeless with daily living skills, medication management and vocational skills and drug treatment.

The living environment should be dormitory style with single room occupancy, a common area/kitchen and depending on the size staff who monitor and supervise the occupants.

Floors and/or wings should have the same population so that their needs can be addressed efficiently.

Example people designated as Mentally Ill Chemical Abuser (s) should be housed together so they can have medication management, mental health services and drug counseling.

Those who are designated with Mental Health Issues but not drug issues should be placed separately. If they have a physical disability, cognitive disability they will be physically and emotionally protected. They may also be suffering from PTSD from child abuse.

Those who are violent need to be in a locked down section with security.

All staff need to be well trained, well paid and respected by the higher ups. Staff needs to be protected and have access to mental health services to discuss the trauma and stress working with population creates.

Woman with children should be placed in the community with supports - no boyfriends allowed to stay over and not allowed to visit unless fully vetted with no criminal background.

I agree.