NYC Mayor Eric Adams announces plan to bar homeless from sheltering in subway 

New York officials plan to bring in rules banning homeless people from seeking shelter on the subway, Mayor Eric Adams announced Friday. Residents could see changes as soon as next week, Adams said. 

“The system is not made to be housing,” Adams said Friday at a press conference. “It’s made to be transportation and we have to return back to that basic philosophy.” 

A key part of the plan will direct the NYPD to enforce rules against people sleeping across multiple seats, exhibiting “aggressive” behavior and creating an “unsanitary environment,” the mayor’s office said in a statement. 

The plan, which is implemented in partnership with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and New York Governor Kathy Hochul, will also require all passengers to leave the train and station at the end of each subway line, and prohibits using the subway for any other reason than transportation. 

Despite the changes, Adams vowed that his administration is “not going to abandon our homeless brothers and sisters.” The plan also calls for interventions like expanding the city’s mental and physical health care services for unhoused people, streamlining the placement process into supportive housing, and creating additional drop-in centers for people to spend time indoors. 

“This is not about arresting people,” Adams said. “This is about arresting a problem. We’re not going to be heavy handed.”

Hochul on Friday also announced new investments to address homelessness and mental health in the state, including $27.5 million for psychiatric beds statewide and $12 million for 500 additional supportive housing beds. 

“This is what government does,” the governor said. “We take care of people. We provide the resources and we’ll get this done.” 

The announcement comes following a series of crimes committed on the subway, including a recent attack where someone was stabbed on a New York subway train.

“It just sends shockwaves throughout the system,” Adams said Friday, referring to the attack.