Second Town Rejects Putnam Crisis Center

Carmel residents say they fear crime, drugs
A proposal to open a 24-hour drop-in crisis program in an office building off Route 6 drew both love and hate from Town of Carmel residents in public hearings.
Everyone seemed to love the idea behind People USA's Stabilization Center, an urgent care for behavioral health where children, teens or adults suffering a mental-health or substance-abuse emergency could be treated and linked with services. But some people hated its location near their businesses and residences.
"I have no doubt that it will help those in crisis," said one woman, identifying herself as the person attacked in October by a homeless man on a trail in Carmel. "But adding another facility that serves people in crisis so close to homes, local businesses, senior communities and the rail trail is not appropriate."
The Planning Board agreed. On Jan. 28, Carmel became the second Putnam County town after Brewster to reject the Stabilization Center, delivering what may be a fatal blow to an idea championed by County Executive Kevin Byrne.

In a statement, Byrne said he would reappropriate $2.5 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds allocated to the project.
"We will continue working with providers, community partners and municipal leaders to increase public safety and expand access to care through evidence-based approaches, including but not limited to mobile crisis response and other prevention efforts," he said.
Some of the people attending the Carmel Planning Board meeting applauded as Craig Paeprer, the board's chair, announced the 6-to-0 vote by its members to deny an application by People USA, which operates crisis centers in Dutchess and Ulster counties, to open one in an office building near the Putnam Plaza Shopping Center.
People USA said the center would have been staffed with certified counselors, social workers and peer specialists, assisting up to eight people at a time, and would have had security trained in de-escalation techniques on-site from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.
A public hearing in November began with a video shot at People USA's Stabilization Center in Poughkeepsie, which opened in 2017 as a collaboration with Dutchess County. The video showed a "hope room" where people are assessed, areas where those waiting to go home or be taken to another program can rest, read books or play games and a room for children and their families.

A procession of speakers who followed the video presented different images — homeless people loitering in the nearby 24-hour McDonald's on Route 6, deputies dropping off inmates released from the Putnam County jail, discarded syringes and home invasions.
The board's resolution rejecting the project cited multiple reasons, including the center's incompatibility with the area's other businesses and Carmel's "long experience with Arms Acres," a nearby residential substance-abuse treatment. Arms Acres and "similar programs" potentially "require a disproportionate commitment of community services, particularly police and emergency services," according to the Planning Board.
Residents in Brewster invoked similar concerns as those in Carmel when they rallied in 2023 against People USA's plan to lease space above the Over the Rainbow Learning Center at a shopping center in the village, which is part of the Town of Southeast. The Town Board responded by approving in October 2023 a six-month moratorium on permits for medical and mental-health clinics, including a "mental health crisis or stabilization center."
Twelve days later, residents attending a public forum on the center conjured images of drunk and drugged clients loitering outside, endangering children and littering the ground with drug paraphernalia.
Byrne said in a letter to residents the following month that he directed People USA to abandon the Brewster location, setting off the search that led to Carmel. The organization, in its proposal to the Carmel Planning Board, said Southeast had "prejudged the application base...