Former Tube chief in furore over 'inhumane' homeless policy for New York subway

Daniel Bates26 October 2018

The former London Underground manager who is cleaning up New York’s transit system has been branded ­“inhumane” for his crackdown on homeless people on the subway.

Andy Byford said that he would no longer tolerate rough sleepers who were “offensive, obnoxious and anti-social”.

At a testy transit board meeting Mr Byford said he did not mind homeless people keeping warm on the subway but he would “not tolerate” them littering or sleeping across multiple seats.

Crackdown: rough sleepers at a subway station in Manhattan.
Rex Features

The comments sparked a rebuke from a transit board member who called it a “disaster” while homeless charities said it was “not the right approach”.

Mr Byford was brought in at the start of the year as head of the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) to fix the crisis in the subway and bus system.

Andy Byford took over as New York’s transit boss in January, and has offended some with his tough policy on the homeless
Toronto Star via Getty Images

Mr Byford, who worked as group station manager at King’s Cross early in his career, spoke out at a meeting of the transit board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the parent agency for the NYCTA.

He said: “There is a fundamental difference between someone coming in to keep warm and sitting on a seat and dozing off, I don’t really have a problem with that.

"But laying across a seat or behaving in an antisocial manner or making a mess is not acceptable. That crosses the line.”

Mr Byford said he wanted police to “bear down” on this behaviour.

Fernando Ferrer, the vice-chairman of the committee, responded: “And this committee will throw you a ticker tape parade.”

But board member Charles Moerdler was not impressed and said that homeless people “are human beings”.

He said: “They are individuals with individual problems. To deal with them all as one is just wrong, and to deal with them uncaringly and recklessly, in my view, is a disaster.”

Mr Byford said that “nobody on my team disagrees with that summary” but “we have a responsibility to provide our customers with safe, pleasant ambient surroundings”.

He said: “We have to make sure that people are not causing offence to other customers or making a mess and would expect rapid resistance from the city and the police to help us.”

Mr Moerdler shot back: “No one would disagree with that but humane treatment is absolutely essential.” Mr Byford said: “We entirely concur.”

New York has the largest homeless population in America, at about 77,000 people, with an estimated 3,900 living on the streets.

A comparison with London is difficult because the numbers are calculated differently, but according to City Hall 7,484 people slept on the streets of the capital last year.

Giselle Routhier, policy director at Coalition for the Homeless, an advocacy group in the US, told the Standard that people on the streets were “some of the most vulnerable” because they often had mental health or substance abuse problems.

She said: “This is not the right approach, it’s inhumane.

“We have learnt from past mayors that you cannot police homeless people off the streets. This is going to be more harmful in terms of getting people the services that they need.”

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