An unhinged vagrant who terrorized Manhattan’s Gramercy Park neighborhood last year is still at it — and locals say the city isn’t doing anything to help despite Mayor Eric Adams’ new program to get troubled homeless people off the streets.
Residents at one Lexington Avenue building told The Post management even spent nearly $4,000 on a locksmith to try to keep the troublesome vagabond from camping out in their lobby — but he somehow still found a way in.
“For the past two months the guy’s been sleeping in the vestibule area,” said Abe Bichoupan, a resident of the co-op building on Lexington near East 25th Street. “He would pop in four, five in the afternoon. He would eat there, smoke.”
Over the weekend, residents called cops at least five times after the homeless man broke into the compact room and defecated — only to have police let him go when he refused help.
“The police are saying that they don’t have any right to put him in an institution or whatever unless he consents to it in writing,” Bichoupan said. “As much as he’s imbalanced he still can respond to a few questions posed by authorities, and he just doesn’t want to go in.”
The Post first wrote about the man— known as Howard but nicknamed “Cheese” by local cops because of his stench — in April, when he was spotted wandering the area and muttering to himself as he tried to get into area businesses.
A homeless man named Howard has been harassing Gramercy Park residents and merchants since last year — but cops and city officials aren’t helping, locals said.Matthew McDermott
He was spotted in the neighborhood by The Post again on Sunday but refused to talk to a reporter — repeatedly walking away when confronted.
“He’s still here,” said Ed Agusto, who works the counter at the Morton Williams Supermarket on East 23rd Street. “He starts acting crazy. Not in here, but outside. He takes his clothes off in the summer. Takes his clothes off in the street.
“People are scared of him,” Agusto said.
The outrageous behavior appears to be part of the mental health crisis the mayor has said he is tackling.
Adams promised in November to involuntarily commit New Yorkers with chronic or untreated mental health issues, claiming the city had “a moral obligation” to do so.
Hizzoner maintained he was embracing a more aggressive approach to the city’s mental health crisis, particularly those — like Howard — who can’t care for themselves.
But horrified locals said Howard has been left to roam free despite repeated calls to cops and City Hall to get him needed help.
“He needs to do a lot more to implement this program,” Bichoupan said of Adams. “It’s all talk, sounds great. But you need to execute on it in a way that ameliorates the situation both for the person in question and the citizens that have to encounter these people.”
At least one tenant has decided to break their lease and move out to escape the nuisance, Bichoupan said, something others are also now considering in light of the repeated break-ins.
“It was disturbing for some of the people residing in the building,” said Bichoupan, who added that tenants just want the man to get mental health care.
“He may not be a physical threat, but for someone not used to him, they don’t know what to anticipate.”
Lauren Secular, president of the co-op’s board of directors, said tenants couldn’t even get mail at one point because the mailman refused to go into the lobby with the vagrant there.
