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After deadly Times Square violence, a bill emerges to better deliver assistance
By
Willow Higgins
Published Sep 9, 2026
Modified Sep 9, 2026
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Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images
By
Willow Higgins
Published Sep 9, 2026
Modified Sep 9, 2026
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New legislation in Albany, spurred in part by recent violence in Times Square, aims to make it easier for healthcare providers, police officers, social workers and other professionals to collaborate and connect needy New Yorkers with housing and other supportive services.
The bill, introduced by Sen. Erik Bottcher and Assemblymember Tony Simone, whose districts include Times Square, would amend state law to allow New York City organizations and government agencies to create “Neighborhood Street Teams” to help coordinate care in particular areas.
The measure, the subject of a scheduled press briefing Wednesday, addresses concerns raised by outreach workers who say their work can feel siloed, leading to duplicative efforts and delays. Dozens of contracted nonprofits and agencies already work to connect people in need of housing and therapeutic or psychiatric care.
“We have extraordinary people doing this work,” Bottcher said in a statement. “We need to give them the tools to work together.”
The legislation, A11700/S10682, comes on the heels of an August 31 incident in Times Square in which a woman whose family said she had a history of serious mental health issues stabbed two people in a random attack, killing one of them, before being shot and killed by members of the NYPD.
“Too many New Yorkers are falling through the cracks because the people trying to help them are working in separate systems,” Simone said in a statement. “We need to stop making outreach workers reinvent the wheel every time they encounter someone in crisis.”
He added, “This bill is about putting the right people around the same table, giving them the information they need, and getting people off the streets and into services.”
As envisioned by the sponsors, professionals from different fields, including homeless outreach providers, health care professionals, and housing coordinators, would work as a team and have a direct line of communication with one another. The bill, which would revise the social services law, would allow the teams to freely share information about people that would previously be considered confidential.
The law would apply to all of New York state, but teams outside of New York City would be established at the county level.
Tom Harris, the president of the Times Square Alliance, which works to enhance business and conditions in the iconic neighborhood, said last week’s violence “should be a call to our leaders” to do a better job supporting “people who are suffering with mental illness on our streets.” He said the legislation is a strong start.
“We need to better coordinate care amongst those suffering from mental illness,” Harris said. “It's fragmented. The outreach workers and the hospitals don't always coordinate information, share intelligence out of this sense of privacy. And the citizens of New York City and those suffering with mental illness are the victims.”
Lawmakers said the bill comes after discussions with community members, outreach providers, and city agencies. Frontline providers in particular, according to a press statement outlining the initiative, have said that they are often left “without a complete picture of what other providers are doing, what services have already been offered and what barriers have prevented previous interventions from succeeding.”
Lauren Taylor, deputy director of the Manhattan Outreach Consortium at the Center for Urban Community Services, which contracts with the city to provide housing and social support for New Yorkers, said she shares the concerns outlined in the legislation.
Different legal standards apply to confidentiality, Taylor noted. Having clarity about what “can and cannot be shared across providers is a helpful thing,” she said.
Her coalition’s street outreach team also uses a team-model, Taylor said. Internally, the organization has divided Manhattan into districts and formed teams of social workers, psychiatric providers, doctors and nurses that work together as a unit to understand each person's goals.
“ It's really effective to make sure that we're looking at things from kind of all of the angles,” Taylor said. What she’s seen makes her think the proposed law is “certainly an interesting idea.”
The bill is currently in the Rules Committee in the New York Senate and in the Assembly’s Social Services Committee. The legislation will likely be reintroduced next session. In the meantime, the legislators say they will continue to engage with stakeholders.
This story was updated with additional information.
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Times Square
new york city
public safety
Willow Higgins
Willow Higgins covers changes in New York City neighborhoods for WNYC and Gothamist. She has previously reported on wrongful convictions, corruption in district attorney offices and Texas' child welfare system.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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