Manhattan Man, 80, Faces Eviction Again After Years of Fighting Back

I have a dear friend who lives in this building. Mr. Shapiro is being presented in a much more sympathetic light than anyone who has been his neighbor can understand. Imagine scraping and saving money working double-shifts as a nurse to buy your first home, a studio, close to the hospital where you work on the UES. Shortly after you move in, there is a horrifying smell, like a dead body, feces, and vomit on your hallway. The smell literally makes you gag when you enter the hallway. Then you see an infestation of rats, bedbugs, roaches, and other vermin. The person who is the source refuses to clean out his apartment or to let it be cleaned at the building's expense. It isn't like you can sell, either, as anyone who comes to look notices the stench. (Probably when you bought, it was a rare few months while he was on meds or after one of the forcible cleanups mentioned in the article.) You are still working double shifts to afford your mortgage and maintenance, so all you really need is a quiet place to rest your head at night. But no, the source of the stench is also source of horrible, unrelenting noise, ALL NIGHT LONG. No one can help, and now you are a sick, walking zombie, underperforming in job and too tired for a social life since you are sleep-deprived. What a misery for the 20 or so neighbors above him, below him, on his hall, and anyone who ever had to ride an elevator within an hour after he got off.

Will the home of the free ever find a balance between the rights of the individual and the whole of society?

He is just one of many, supported by Government handouts, who suck precious resources from hard-working taxpayers and then make life miserable for everyone around them. Representative Maloney should be ashamed of herself for helping this leech.

I would very much like to see how this turns out! Could someone do a follow up?

Sad story and sad that they would be so heartless - he's 80, obviously has issues. So he will be homeless now - Good job NYC.

I find this story emblematic of the state of our society. as one of the richest nations in the world, can't we do better for our citizens? Here, I doubt that even the most hard-bitten politically conservative, free-marketeer would begrudge this poor soul some intervention from the government to provide him with the means to live in relative independence and dignity for the time he has left. all but for the political will to see that American citizens are provided an adequate safety net.

With all of our impressive technological and medical advancements, we still can't solve some of our most vexing social problems, not because solutions don't exist, but because we, as a society, place such a low priority on solving these problems.

"Mr. Shapiro had been offered affordable housing, but he said it would have on-site "semi-psychiatric" care, which he did not want."

I don't want to be a naysayer, and there are plenty of people who shouldn't be homeless. But this is not "he's getting evicted with no place to go. He HAS been offered a place. He just doesn't want to admit he has problems, just like his trustees have found.

It's been said that tragedy isn't a conflict between right and wrong, but between right and right, This is a difficult case. While there is the NYC housing issue at play, the crux of this is the conflict between the rights of the mentally ill and what we perceive as being their best interests. Unless it is a truly life threatening health situation, he cannot be forced into accepting medical and social service help. In my more rural area, somebody like Mr Shapiro could live in a trailer in the woods, maybe not in what we would consider a healthy environment but on his own terms and without impacting others' property. In a high rise apartment building, his lifestyle cannot help but impose upon the rights of his neighbors and their quality of life. I hope that somehow a solution can be found that works out for everyone impacted, Mr Shapiro and his neighbors.

I find this article to be quite insensitive as it marginalizes Mr. Shapiro as a psychiatric patient, especially by highlighting his delusional behavior for what appears to be sheer entertainment value.

The expression "even paranoids have enemies" has never been truer than in this situation. Where will this man go if he is evicted? This is exactly the sort of situation that leads people with mental illness to live miserable lives on the street. This also exemplifies the housing crisis we face in the city.

This man is obviously very mentally ill, and has been for a long time. How the city could allow him to live on his own in a filthy apartment when he should be getting in-patient treatment is beyond astounding.

Give the guy a break. Mr. Shapiro is 80 years old.

On the bright side, at least no one could ever accuse Mr. Shapiro of being one of those oversharing social-media shill "influencers".

Mr. Shapiro,

best wishes & hoping you get another chance ...
there's no place like home