NYC's Safety Priority Should Be Affordable Housing, Not Cops: Survey

NEW YORK CITY — A new survey funded by allies of Mayor Eric Adams, who has pushed hard in recent weeks to amp up policing on city streets, found New Yorkers prioritize expanding affordable housing when it comes to public safety.

The NYC Speaks poll — said to be one of the city's largest ever civic policy surveys — found 44 percent of adult New Yorkers believe affordable housing and homelessness prevention would best keep their neighborhoods safe.

"What was surprising was how many New Yorkers said housing was a critically important part to improving public safety," said Dr. Shango Blake, NYC Speaks' executive director. "It kept on showing up in other areas; housing became a big cornerstone to what is an issue here."

Approximately 44,000 New Yorkers were asked to choose their top three policy choices. Of them 19,545 chose affordable housing, 16,120 chose sending mental health experts instead of police to mental illness crises, and only 14,997 named increased policing as a priority, the survey found.

“NYC Speaks is the Adams Administration doubling down on its commitment to civic engagement and people-driven policy change," a City Hall spokesperson told Patch.

"We will continue to work in partnership with community leaders and deliver policies that meet the needs shared in the survey results.”

The results arrive as Adams pursues controversial policing policies — such as amping up police presence in city subways and the return of anti-gun units — that target many of the same neighborhoods the study focused on surveying.

And, in several neighborhoods, they show a disconnect between City Hall policy and local community priorities.

For example, in one Harlem zip code — a neighborhood with two precincts seeing new anti-gun units deployed — residents said they prioritized four public safety initiatives before increased policing, the data show.

In Brooklyn zip code 11221 — which covers Bed-Stuy and Bushwick precincts also included in the anti-gun program — only 113 of 481 respondents said increasing policing should be a priority, while 281 chose affordable housing.

In Astoria zip code 11103 — home to the 114th precinct — only 39 of 192 respondents said they prioritized increasing police presence, but 112 voted in favor of affordable housing and 101 prioritized mental health safety initiatives.

Mental health was a priority for New Yorkers of all ages — city dwellers aged 14 to 17 contributed to a separate data set but answered the same questions — who said they wanted to see mental health experts involved in crisis situations, but also available in city schools, Blake noted.

"We're still in the midst of a pandemic," Blake said. "All New Yorkers, and young New Yorkers, wanted mental health providers."

The survey is the result of a $2.1 million effort funded by Adams administration allies such as cryptocurrency mogul Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Gives and the Robin Hood and Ford foundations, according to the organization's website and a Bloomberg News report.

The 27-question survey — which included topics such as housing, gender justice and education — focused on New Yorkers in 33 neighborhoods in an effort to reach Black and brown, low-income and NYCHA communities, organizers said.

"The goal of this survey was to amplify the voices of New Yorkers on issues that impact them most directly," the survey website reads. "Especially New Yorkers typically excluded from government decision-making."

Blake said the next steps will be bringing the data to local communities and having conversations about what specific policies are needed in specific neighborhoods, and when Patch suggested the term "hyperlocal," Blake replied, "I love that term."

"We hope to create a government structure that is collaborative," Blake said. "It's an opportunity for the real conversation to happen. Some powerful things can happen."

This story was updated to include Patch's interview with Dr. Blake and comment from the Mayor's office.