Cities, towns and villages across New York state are working to address mental health issues, homelessness, drugs and poverty. One street in Syracuse, located right in front of the Rescue Mission, is serving as an example of what could happen when the problems collide.

“We’re at the point where we’re gonna try some new strategies to change some of the behaviors that are happening around our campus,” said Dan Sieburg, CEO of the Rescue Mission Alliance of Syracuse.

The mission is home to the largest homeless shelter in Syracuse. It’s a refuge for those in need, but outside, it can turn chaotic.

“Kinda loitering all day. There’s a lot of open-air drug use and sales. Tons of trash,” Sieburg said.

Since the beginning of the year, there have been around 1,400 emergency calls to the street outside of the mission. Over that time, nearly 200 arrests have been made. 

“We have a lot of folks struggling in this community, not just in the city with mental health issues, with substance use, issues struggling in poverty, with homelessness," Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh said. "And it is disproportionately concentrated in this one area.”

The issues are paramount across the entire state. Most of the arrests are for drug sales, theft and assault. In an effort to reduce the crowd, the Rescue Mission is taking steps.

“We're restricting all of our meals to just people who are receiving services at the Rescue Mission," Sieburg said. "So if you're living in our housing programs, or if you're staying in our shelter.” 

“They want to serve the population that needs their services, but they have to differentiate between those who are down there for services and those who are down there for negative activities,” Walsh said.

It's an issue that’s been going on for a long time, officials said. The mission, Syracuse mayor and the city's police chief say they talk about it daily. At this point, they’re trying to find something that gets them closer to a solution. 

“We’ve been working with mental health experts," said Syracuse Police Department Chief Joe Cecile. 

"We've been working with AMR to see what we can do to get these folks that are just loitering, they're doing drugs, selling drugs, have mental health issues, to see if we can put them on a different pathway,” Cecile said. “Unfortunately, when you are homeless, hurting, maybe you're in sobriety, you're trying to stay clean. You're an easy target.”

“It's a problem," Walsh said. "It's one that we are laser-focused on and are addressing. But there's still much work to be done.”