Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo unveiled his plan Tuesday to fix the Big Apple’s mental health crisis — by walking back policies he executed while in office, and oddly copycatting those of Mayor Eric Adams.

At least 12 of 14 points in Cuomo’s proposal mirror ideas that his mayoral rival Adams has already pushed to help get people with severe mental illness off the streets, including expanding involuntary hospitalizations and boosting psychiatric beds.

The striking similarities to plans that Adams spent three years advocating for didn’t go unnoticed by bemused City Hall officials.

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” an Adams’ administration source told The Post after Cuomo’s plan dropped. “Especially when it comes to cleaning up situations created by the imitator.”

“This is yet another example of Andrew Cuomo pulling multiple pages from Mayor Adams’ book to create ‘plans,’ and it stands in stark contrast to the former governor’s record having reduced funding and the number of psychiatric beds while in office,” added press secretary Kayla Mamelak.

Critics have long blamed many of Cuomo’s policies as governor for the city’s intertwined mental health and homelessness crises.

The thrice-elected Democrat’s decision to slash more than $65 million in rental assistance programs in 2011 marked the beginning of New York City’s surge in homelessness, with the shelter populations jumping by 16,000 in the three following years, critics argued.

And Cuomo also oversaw a 28% reduction in the number of psychiatric beds in state hospitals between 2011 to 2021.

More than 1,000 beds meant for mental-health treatment were also redirected for COVID, but only 200 returned as the pandemic cooled.

But now Cuomo — who resigned in 2021 and is making a comeback bid to unseat Adams as New York City’s mayor — is calling for between 100 and 200 new inpatient psychiatric beds to be added in the city’s Health and Hospitals system in a bid to keep mentally ill perps out of Rikers.

The additional inpatient beds are up from the 100-odd new beds Hizzoner touted during his State of the City speech earlier this year to tackle the crisis.

The former governor also floated boosting supportive housing units from 500 to 1,600 per year — up from the 900 “Safe Haven” beds promised by Adams to house the homeless and transition them to permanent housing.

Many of the key elements in Cuomo’s plan bear striking similarities to ones already put forward by the Adams administration over the last three years. 

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” an Adams’ administration source told The Post after Cuomo’s plan dropped. “Especially when it comes to cleaning up situations created by the imitator.”

“This is yet another example of Andrew Cuomo pulling multiple pages from Mayor Adams’ book to create ‘plans,’ and it stands in stark contrast to the former governor’s record having reduced funding and the number of psychiatric beds while in office,” added press secretary Kayla Mamelak. 

One of Cuomo’s main focuses would be removing those who are a danger to themselves from the streets, according to his 36-page proposal.

As part of the plan, Cuomo has vowed to expand the use of court orders under Kendra’s Law — mainly by requiring “universal screening” when people are discharged from public hospitals and from Rikers Island jail.

Adams, for his part, has long called for the state law to be strengthened so the city can commit people suffering from severe mental illness for longer.

Cuomo also highlighted how the city needs to tap into involuntarily removing homeless people from the streets who can’t meet their basic needs — a policy expansion that was put in place nearly three years ago under the Adams administration following a spate of horrifying subway attacks.

As governor, Cuomo had also tried to make it easier to take the mentally ill off the streets and into treatment against their will, but was slapped down by the state legislature.

Jason Elan, a spokesman for Cuomo, brushed off accusations that the former governor cribbed from Adams’ policies. 

“Andrew Cuomo pioneered many of these policies during his time as HUD Secretary and while working as Governor,” Elan said in a statement. 

“While it’s nice that Eric Adams has paid lip service to many of the programs initiated by Governor Cuomo, the sad reality is his execution has been wholly ineffective, which is why the problem of mentally ill homelessness in the city has not only not improved, but gotten worse during his tenure.”

City comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander was quick to rip Cuomo’s agenda – arguing he deserves the blame for a worsening crisis given he cut psychiatric beds while governor.

“Andrew Cuomo releasing a plan to fix our mental health crisis is like an arsonist saying he’ll put out a fire,” Lander said.

“Everyone knows that when Andrew Cuomo was governor, he deliberately gutted our mental health services, slashing thousands of beds, which helped cause the dire situation on our streets and subways that afflicts New York to this day.” 

Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi countered that the former governor only axed beds that were not being used and didn’t touch those to treat violent, mentally ill people going through the court system.

“Eleven years ago, we redirected funding for 183 perenally [sic] vacant inpatient beds for non-violent mentally ill people and redirected it to fund supportive services that have served 200,000 New Yorkers who otherwise would have had to fight for limited resources,” Azzopardi said in a statement.

Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa piled on Cuomo’s record.

“Andrew Cuomo is once again pretending to be a firefighter rushing to a fire he started. The public safety and homelessness crisis we’re dealing with today is a direct result of his failed leadership as governor,” the Guardian Angels founder sniped.

“While I ride the subways and face it head-on, he ran off to the Hamptons — and now he wants to be mayor and thinks New Yorkers are stupid enough to forget.”

Other parts of Cuomo’s blueprint to tackle the mental health crisis include $2.6 billion to expand congregate supportive housing, fill essential workforce shortages and establish a cross-agency team to coordinate outreach to the homeless population.

“The mental health and homelessness crisis in New York City is a humanitarian emergency hiding in plain sight. We see it every day — in our overflowing shelters, our streets, our subways,” Cuomo said.

“As Mayor, I will rebuild a system that doesn’t just manage dysfunction — it delivers results. We will get people the treatment, housing, and care they need, and restore both dignity and safety to our city.”

Adams’ campaign, meanwhile, defended his record and stopped short of directly attacking Cuomo’s plan.

“Mayor Adams’ proactive approach demonstrates a genuine commitment to addressing the root causes of homelessness and providing tangible support to our city’s most vulnerable residents,” his campaign spokesperson, Todd Shapiro, said.

“While others may now propose plans, Mayor Adams has been steadfast in implementing solutions that make a real difference.”