New York to remove homeless from subway in wake of Michelle Alyssa Go’s shoving death

The city’s underground transit system has seen a spike in violence since the pandemic began, and many residents say they don’t feel safe riding the trains

Mayor Eric Adams says police and social workers will clear out people sheltering in train cars and on station platforms and direct them to shelters or hospitals

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A person holds a candle during a vigil in New York’s Times Square in January in honour of Michelle Alyssa Go, a victim of a subway attack several days earlier. Photo: AP

Published: 5:37am, 19 Feb 2022Updated: 5:49am, 19 Feb 2022

New York’s leaders pledged on Friday to clear homeless people from the city’s subway following a spike in violence on the underground transit system, including the recent shoving death of a 40-year-old Asian-American woman.

Mayor Eric Adams said he was instructing police officers and social workers to remove anyone sheltering inside train cars and on station platforms.

“The system was not made to be housing, it’s made to be transportation,” Adams, 61, told reporters.

Homeless people sought refuge in the subway system after shelters closed at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in spring 2020 and as workers stopped commuting to offices.

A man sleeps under the seats of a subway car in New York in October 2017. Photo: AP

Adams said police officers would work with outreach workers who would help take homeless people to shelters or towards hospital help if they appear mentally ill.