NYC Shelters Would Help Homeless Get Off Drugs Under New Bill

NEW YORK CITY HALL — Making it easier for homeless New Yorkers to get medical help for their drug addictions could save lives, advocates say — and a new City Council bill aims to do just that. The measure Councilman Stephen Levin (D-Brooklyn) introduced Wednesday would require the city to provide access in homeless shelters to buprenorphine, a medication that treats opioid addiction.

"We cannot stand by and do nothing," Levin said. "We know that many people who are using don't wish to use. ... But we are letting them down because we are not providing alternatives."

Drugs were the most common cause of death among homeless people in the 2017 fiscal year, according to Department of Homeless Services data. Of the 311 deaths of homeless people recorded that year, 103 were drug-related and 86 stemmed from acute overdoses, figures show.

The city has worked to train homeless shelter staff on how to administer naloxone, the life-saving overdose antidote. But homeless people often face long waits to get ahold of buprenorphine, which treats addiciton in the long term but can only be prescribed by certain doctors, advocates said.

"My patients don't want to die, and they die because of bureaucracy involved in waiting for treatment, or the stipulations we impose on them, and the time it takes for us to get them what they need," said Dr. Kimberly Sue, the medical director at the Harm Reduction Coalition.

Shantae Owens of VOCAL-NY, an advocacy group that backs Levin's bill, said the long waits are an obstacle for the many people who want to stop using drugs.

Owens, a former drug user who spent time in a shelter himself, remembers with his own "agonizing pain" while he awaited treatment with Suboxone, a brand of buprenorphine, he said.

"All was told is that, ‘I’m sorry, you have to wait. We found a provider but there’s a long waiting list ‘cause he can only see a certain amount of patients,'" Owens said. "That has to stop. People are dying out here."

Under Levin's bill, city agencies would have to provide on-site access at shelters to buprenorphine or another similar drug and to least one medical professional certified to prescribe it, unless providers from a nearby medical facility can make regular visits.

The bill would also require other drug treatment services at shelters including individual and group counseling.

The city has a responsibility to provide such basic services for the homeless people in its care, said Kassandra Frederique, the New York State director at the Drug Policy Alliance.

"There is no reason why people are walking into homeless shelters and not having access to basic primary care, not having access to basic services that we know save lives," Frederique said.

The bill comes amid a continuing opioid crisis in New York City. The Department of Health recorded 1,487 fatal drug overdoses in 2017, more than 80 percent of which involved an opioid.

(Lead image: Shantae Owens of VOCAL-NY speaks at a Wednesday rally outside City Hall for a bill that would require buprenorphine to be made available at homeless shelters. Photo by Noah Manskar/Patch)