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NYC Mayor Adams signs off on laws providing mental health services at shelters, interest rates on back taxes, juvenile justice oversight

The New York Daily News - 3/14/2023

Homeless shelters that cater to women and children in New York City will now be required to offer mental health services under a bill Mayor Adams signed into law Tuesday.

The new law, which was backed by Councilman Erik Bottcher (D-Manhattan), will ultimately increase the number of family shelters that have access to mental health services from nine to 247 in the coming months.

During a bill-signing ceremony in City Hall’s Blue Room, Bottcher said the current state of affairs is “unacceptable” and that the new law will change that.

“Our system has failed so badly on the issue of mental health,” he said. “We have a two-tiered mental health system. We have a system for people with insurance, good insurance, for people with means. And we have a system for everyone else.”

Bottcher’s bill was among several the mayor signed into law Tuesday.

Others included a new mandate that will give the city more flexibility when setting interest rates on back tax payments and a requirement that the city create an advisory board to weigh in on juvenile justice cases the city’s Administration for Children’s Services is deliberating on.

Homeowners struggling to pay off back taxes will be eligible for lower interest rates under the former law.

That law, which was backed by Councilman David Carr (R-S.I.), is aimed at benefiting those making a good faith effort to pay off their bills.

Carr, who also spoke in City Hall’s Blue Room before Adams signed the bill into law, said that the law was drafted to address a dilemma posed by the once rigid rules around the rates: how to punish scofflaws who are simply ducking out on property tax bills while also providing a helping hand to those legitimately struggling to pay.

“The Council will be able to adopt a second rate for those who are in property tax payment plans and are making good-faith efforts on those payments to get themselves out of the tax arrear hole that they’ve been in,” he said. “So finally, instead of them being dumped on and being able to just never get out of this tax debt, it’s going to be easier for them to get out of that hole.”

The juvenile justice bill, which was sponsored by Althea Stevens (D-Bronx), is a way to give children and their parents more say in decisions the city makes involving disciplining kids.

The advisory board that will be created under the law will be composed of lawyers who’ve represented children, adults who had experience with juvenile justice when they were kids, and parents.

“Today, I’m here to tell young people that your voices matter,” Stevens said. “It’s so important for the actions of our agencies and administration to be informed by the lived experience of our friends, neighbors and especially our young people.”

©2023 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.