PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Alison Wilkey, Director of Government Affairs and Strategic Campaigns at Coalition for the Homeless
4:31:03
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155 sec
Alison Wilkey from Coalition for the Homeless testified on the B-HEARD program and mental health crisis response in NYC, highlighting concerns about gaps in service, effectiveness, and potential biases in the program's implementation.
- Pointed out that mobile crisis teams do not respond to street homeless individuals, leaving a significant gap in mental health crisis response
- Analyzed B-HEARD program data, noting low rates of actual contact with individuals in crisis and high rates of hospital transport compared to similar programs in other cities
- Raised concerns about the algorithm used to determine B-HEARD eligibility and potential racial disparities in outcomes
- Advocated for a peer response system outside of uniformed services and police
Alison Wilkey
4:31:03
Good afternoon.
4:31:04
My name's Allison Wilkie, and I'm the Director of Government Affairs And Strategic Campaigns of the Coalition for the homeless.
4:31:09
Thank you for the opportunity to testify, Charlie, and come remember, Kevan.
4:31:13
I want to make four points today.
4:31:16
First, there was a lot of talk by the administration about the availability of mobile crisis teams through 988, but the mobile crisis team website says specifically that they will not respond to people who are Street homeless.
4:31:29
So if people are living on the street and have a mental health crisis and they're not in the be heard area like say in Times Square, which also came up, they will get no other option other than a police response.
4:31:39
And that is a big gap in being able to have some kind of response that is squarely in the mental health system and outside of the uniformed services.
4:31:49
2nd, I've been looking at the data that was released on Friday.
4:31:53
And if we're looking at whether be heard is effective at its goals and actually having a a non police response that connects people to care, you kind of have to look at the full universe of calls.
4:32:04
So there are in FY 20 4, 51,329 mental health calls.
4:32:09
Of that, only 40% were found be heard eligible, which is a really big drop.
4:32:15
Of that total number of 51,000 be heard dispatched to team and only 29% of those calls.
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And then of that total number of 51,000 calls, they only came in contact with a person in 14% of those calls.
4:32:29
And I didn't hear an explanation today about like why they're such a huge difference in them not actually coming into contact with someone when they actually do respond.
4:32:39
The 3rd point I'll make is about the outcomes.
4:32:42
So I think other people have pointed this out that in 57% of the cases where they respond, it results in someone being transported to the hospital.
4:32:51
That number is egregiously high.
4:32:53
So in a similar program in Toronto, that figures 8%.
4:32:58
And in the Portland Street response team, that number is 2.5%.
4:33:03
So the number of people going to the hospital is incredibly high and we don't know and they couldn't tell us whether those are involuntary or voluntary transports.
4:33:13
Just the last point that I'll make very quickly is that I have concerns about algorithm that they're using and whether there are racially disparate outcomes on that.
4:33:21
Even in health settings, algorithms have been shown to be racist and biased.
4:33:26
So I have concerns about whether that is resulting in the really low number of cases being found eligible.
4:33:32
So we stand with other CCIT and calling for a peer response that is truly outside of the uniformed services and police.
