An unhinged vagrant\u00a0who terrorized Manhattan\u2019s Gramercy Park neighborhood\u00a0last year is still at it \u2014 and locals say the city isn\u2019t doing anything to help despite Mayor Eric Adams\u2019 new program to get troubled homeless people off the streets.
\nResidents 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 \u2014 but he somehow still found a way in.
\n\u201cFor the past two months the guy\u2019s been sleeping in the vestibule area,\u201d said Abe Bichoupan, a resident of the co-op building on Lexington near East 25th Street. \u201cHe would pop in four, five in the afternoon. He would eat there, smoke.\u201d
\nOver the weekend, residents called cops at least five times after the homeless man broke into the compact room and defecated \u2014 only to have police let him go when he refused help.
\n\u201cThe police are saying that they don\u2019t have any right to put him in an institution or whatever unless he consents to it in writing,\u201d Bichoupan said. \u201cAs much as he\u2019s imbalanced he still can respond to a few questions posed by authorities, and he just doesn\u2019t want to go in.\u201d
\nThe Post first wrote about the man\u2014 known as Howard but nicknamed \u201cCheese\u201d by local cops because of his stench \u2014 in April, when he was spotted wandering the area and muttering to himself as he tried to get into area businesses.
\nA homeless man named Howard has been harassing Gramercy Park residents and merchants since last year \u2014 but cops and city officials aren\u2019t helping, locals said.Matthew McDermott
\nHe was spotted in the neighborhood by The Post again on Sunday but refused to talk to a reporter \u2014 repeatedly walking away when confronted.
\n\u201cHe\u2019s still here,\u201d said Ed Agusto, who works the counter at the Morton Williams Supermarket on East 23rd Street. \u201cHe starts acting crazy. Not in here, but outside. He takes his clothes off in the summer. Takes his clothes off in the street.
\n\u201cPeople are scared of him,\u201d Agusto said.
\nThe outrageous behavior appears to be part of the mental health crisis the mayor has said he is tackling.
\nAdams promised in November\u00a0to involuntarily commit New Yorkers\u00a0with chronic or untreated mental health issues, claiming the city had \u201ca moral obligation\u201d to do so.
\nHizzoner maintained he was embracing a more aggressive approach to the city\u2019s mental health crisis, particularly those \u2014 like Howard \u2014 who can\u2019t care for themselves.<\/p>\n
But horrified locals said Howard has been left to roam free despite repeated calls to cops and City Hall to get him needed help.
\n\u201cHe needs to do a lot more to implement this program,\u201d Bichoupan said of Adams. \u201cIt\u2019s 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.\u201d
\nAt 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.
\n\u201cIt was disturbing for some of the people residing in the building,\u201d said Bichoupan, who added that tenants just want the man to get mental health care.
\n\u201cHe may not be a physical threat, but for someone not used to him, they don\u2019t know what to anticipate.\u201d
\nLauren Secular, president of the co-op\u2019s board of directors, said tenants couldn\u2019t even get mail at one point because the mailman refused to go into the lobby with the vagrant there.<\/p>\n