After Jordan Neely's death, homeless advocates blame NYC's 'dehumanizing' policies

“‘There's been this constant implicit and sometimes explicit link between homelessness and crime — homelessness and lack of safety,’ said Sara Newman, director of organizing at the Open Hearts Initiative. ‘The same goes for mental illness. And the solution to that is to make people who are experiencing homelessness or mental illness go away.’

‘When you have the highest leaders in the state and city validating that kind of perception and link, I think it makes people feel like it's OK to stand by when someone is being murdered for not actually hurting anyone,’ she added.”