By Craig Giammona
College Point (seven beds per 1,000 residents) and the Central Rockaways (six beds per 1,000) were listed as the neighborhoods with the third and fourth highest concentrations of state-funded housing for the mentally ill, putting three of the top four neighborhoods in Queens. The area around Times Square in Manhattan was No. 2 on the list. The data, broken down by zip code, showed that nine of the top 10 neighborhoods had between four and eight beds for the mentally ill for every 1,000 residents. But Queens Village, home to Creedmoor psychiatric hospital, has far and away the most state-supported housing for the mentally ill, with 20 beds for every 1,000 residents or 2.5 as many beds as the Times Square area, which has eight beds per 1,000.The Flatbush Avenue/Prospect Heights area was the only Brooklyn neighborhood to make the list, while Harlem (five beds per 1,000 residents), East Harlem (five) and Central Harlem (five) all made an appearance. Co-op City (six per 1,000) and Gladstone Square (four), both in the Bronx, rounded out the top 10.According to Casey Cannistraci, a spokeswoman for the New York State Office of Mental Health, The Post obtained the data through a Freedom of Information request. The Office of Mental Health, which operates psychiatric centers across the state, serves more than 500,000 patients each year and oversees more than 2,500 programs, which are administered by local governments and nonprofit organizations.The trend toward placing mentally ill patients in apartments and houses has gained momentum over the last few decades as treatment techniques have advanced, making it possible for mentally ill patients to to be treated in their communities. As a result, state hospitals have steadily lost capacity and the focus of treatment has shifted to local communities. This has forced state and local officials to find ways to better treat the mentally ill, who can become violent if not properly cared for. After a woman, Kendra Webdale, was pushed in front of a subway train in Manhattan by a mentally ill man in 1999 and died, a state law was passed requiring courts to order treatment for mentally ill patients, even if they do not want it.
