State government shares the blame for NY’s mental-health mess

Mayor Bill de Blasio deserves much blame for the city’s recent rash of violence by the mentally ill. But Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s actions — and lack of them — have played a big role, too.

One statistic is telling: With 19.5 million residents, New York has less than 3,000 beds available in state psychiatric hospitals — just 15 beds per 100,000, when the minimum ratio generally considered necessary is 50 per 100,000. In 1955, the state had 600 per 100,000, as mental-health expert DJ Jaffe has reported — 40 times today’s level.

Cuomo has closed hospitals and let the number of psychiatric beds drop, but the mentally ill haven’t disappeared. They’re just swelling shelters, jails and prisons, sprawled out on sidewalks — or roaming the streets, creating mayhem.

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