City officials outline immigrant mental‑health programs as advocates warn services are underfunded

City officials told a New York City Council oversight hearing that the mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) are expanding outreach, legal aid partnerships and language access to address immigrant New Yorkers’ mental‑health needs, while advocates and council members said services remain underfunded and difficult to access.

MOIA senior advisor Kenneth Lo told the Committee on Immigration that the office focuses on three responses: ‘‘elevate timely and accurate messages to immigrant communities,’’ expand legal‑service access, and ‘‘coordinate amongst interagency partners to provide the services that meet the mental health needs of immigrant New Yorkers.’’ He said MOIA outreach this year reached ‘‘over 25,000 immigrant New Yorkers’’ and that MOIA has launched ‘‘38 MOIA legal support centers’’ offering screenings, application assistance and representation.

The testimony came during a September oversight hearing convened by Chair Avilas, who criticized administration attendance and pressed agencies on concrete results. ‘‘This Administration seems not to prioritize, hearings across the board,’’ Avilas said, noting frustration that some agency leaders were not present.

Why it matters: Council members and dozens of nonprofit speakers told the committee that growing federal enforcement and hostile rhetoric are deepening fear and trauma in immigrant communities, compounding pre‑existing barriers such as language, stigma and gaps in insurance coverage. Advocates said that without greater investment in culturally and linguistically competent providers, expanding legal representation alone will not make care accessible.

DOHMH Executive Director Nisha Agarwal described city mental‑health services and crisis lines and emphasized access protections: ‘‘For us, healthcare, including mental healthcare, is a right, not a privilege.’’ She highlighted NYC 988 — the nationwide behavioral‑health crisis line — and said text/phone/chat support includes Spanish and interpretation for more than 200 languages. Agarwal also described upcoming work, including an immigrant mental‑health convening MOIA and DOHMH plan for Sept. 23 to surface gaps and coordinate responses.

Advocates at the hearing said that many immigrant New Yorkers do not use existing city programs because of fear of enforcement, language limits or long waits. Legal and social‑service providers described long intake lists and limited capacity. Navin Solmaim of New York Lawyers for the Public Interest said his organization’s review of records for people detained in some facilities found ‘‘delays in follow‑up care, denials of medication, mismanaged chronic illnesses, and inadequate psychiatric treatment.’’

Officials acknowledged limits and promised follow up. DOHMH said it will provide aggregate data on 988 usage and language access and flagged an upcoming report under Local Law 158 (2023) on trauma‑informed care for refugees and migrants. MOIA said it will share details of its AskMOIA hotline volumes and the list of amicus briefs and national coordination activities the city has participated in.

Community groups pressed for concrete steps: more multilingual, culturally competent clinical staff placed where immigrants live, stronger school‑based mental health, trauma‑informed school programming and continued funding for legal representation. Several speakers urged redirecting funds from school policing and surveillance into mental‑health services for students, and numerous nonprofits requested dedicated city funds to sustain bilingual clinicians and interpretation services.

The hearing record shows a clear tension between city agencies’ outreach and coordination efforts and providers’ reports of capacity shortfalls, long wait lists, and access barriers. Council members asked agencies for follow‑up data and for written lists of amicus briefs, program budgets and language‑access expenditures to inform next steps.

Ending note: Agencies pledged follow‑up on several items, including 988 aggregate usage data, DOHMH language‑services expenditures and MOIA contract details for legal support centers; advocates said those deliverables will be a necessary basis for any budget or program increases the council may consider.