NYC finally faces homelessness reality as Jessica Tischs NYPD Q-Teams hit the streets

David Stern has had it.The Morningside Heights resident has been barraging 911 recently to dislodge a man who’s set up camp under the scaffolding outside Stern’s apartment building, frequently exposing himself in front of Stern’s young sons.When cops show up, they can ask the man if he needs assistance — but can’t remove him.“I’m the taxpayer but you’re here to check on that guy,” Stern fumed to me.The man has become a neighborhood fixture, other locals told me — often seen shirtless, enjoying a blunt in the sun, sipping a beer or crab-walking his wheelchair backward and diagonally across busy intersections.Stern once filmed the guy whizzing on his building and showed it to police — “on my phone, the stream coming out of him.”No matter: Officers must witness public urination themselves just to issue a violation.“That was the moment that flipped the switch for me,” David recalled.“Yeah, you guys are useless.”But the inertia may finally be changing.Last week, public frustration with the city’s laissez-faire attitude pushed Gov.

Kathy Hochul into using the state budget to declare that an inability to meet basic living needs justifies involuntary hospitalization. And NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch’s new Quality of Life Initiative, rolled out in some city neighborhoods last month (although not yet in Morningside Heights), is creating a comprehensive one-response system for New Yorkers like Stern.Earlier efforts at sweeps to clear homeless encampments have faced loud backlash from NYC’s progressive squawkers.When Mayor Eric Adams tried it in 2022, city Comptroller (and current mayoral hopeful) Brad Lander criticized the initiative as “failed” when he found that only 5% of the thousands “swept” would even accept temporary shelter.How many of those rousted individuals entered permanent housing? Just three.Subscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter! Please provide a valid email addr...