We are devastated to have witnessed yet another tragedy in the senseless killing of Jordan Neely on the subway last week. Over the course of the past several months, Mayor Eric Adams’ administration has doubled down on stigmatizing rhetoric and regressive policies that promote the policing and criminalization of unhoused people and people experiencing a mental health crisis.

These harmful policies have led to involuntary hospitalizations, arrests, injuries, and deaths of people with mental health diagnoses. And the constant rhetoric of dangerousness has stoked unjustified fear of people who are much more likely to be the victims of violent crimes than perpetrators. We see the tragic results.

Mr. Neely’s heartbreaking, haunting, and cruel death was a direct result of our City’s and our State’s systemic failures to provide a comprehensive continuum of services and support with appropriate follow up and accountability.

Our hearts go out to all those whose lives were touched by Jordan Neely. See our full statement here.

The State also failed to act in critical ways in the recent budget bills, passed a month late. While NYLPI is optimistic about many of the inclusions in the 2024 budget, we are deeply disappointed by the State’s failure to fund Daniel’s Law — a bill that would implement a proven non-police system of mental health crisis response utilizing trained peers with lived mental health experience — and by the continued exclusion of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers from basic health coverage because of their immigration status despite overwhelming support to address this disparity in New York’s Essential Health plan.

In response to the FY 2024 State Budget, NYLPI has issued a statement on key policy issues impacting Disability, Environmental, and Health Justice in New York. Read the full statement on our website.