When Will the Press Ask Subway Riders if They Agree with Mamdani’s Plan to Turn the Subways into Actual Homeless Shelters?

Socialist mayoral candidate Mamdani has a plan that would be laughable — if he weren’t the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City: invite even more mentally ill homeless individuals into the subway system.

That’s right. Mamdani wants to convert empty MTA retail spaces into city-run drop-in centers for the homeless — right inside subway stations. These facilities would offer services and outreach, but they would also encourage the very population that’s already making riders feel unsafe to stay underground longer.

Straphangers are already fed up. A recent MTA survey showed riders rated their sense of safety on the subway at just under 6 out of 10 — and one of their top concerns? People acting erratically. In plain English: mentally ill homeless individuals behaving in threatening or unstable ways.

Yet Mamdani doesn’t just want to bring more of them into the subway system — he opposes any attempt to remove them. He’s against involuntary commitment, even in cases where someone clearly needs care but is incapable of seeking it themselves. Mamdani believes people should make their own mental health decisions — no matter how disconnected from reality they may be.

The result of his policy would be more suffering for the mentally ill and more fear for everyday New Yorkers just trying to get to work, school, or home, and more riders avoiding the subways and fleeing the city.

Why hasn’t the press asked subway riders what they think about turning the system into a homeless outreach zone? Because if they did, Mamdani’s plan wouldn’t survive a single stop on the 6 train.

ABM is asking Mamdani and his supporters: do every day New Yorkers riding the subway deserve the same level of safety you provided for your Uganda wedding guests—where you hired military-style security to protect them?”