New Yorkers are now digging into their own pockets to protect their neighborhoods from aggressive homeless, The Post reports. How much more of this before City Hall rethinks its approach?

Wednesday’s paper brought news of Upper West Side tenants forking over $1,440 a year each for private guards to fend off the community-destroying excesses of street vagrants.

“The city dumped the problem in our lap, then refused to provide the tools to keep the problem at bay,” one resident said. “Now we’re footing the bill ourselves, so at least we don’t have to worry about getting mugged. It’s a total outrage.”

Another tenant, Regan Healey, vented: “When my daughters come back to visit from college, I say, ‘You can’t walk alone.’”

The issue also explains why lower-income areas in the city have rallied against new homeless shelters: They’re afraid.

Let’s be clear here: The issue isn’t homeless families, it’s (overwhelmingly) single homeless men, many of them seriously mentally ill or grappling with major substance-abuse problems.

Walking your kids down the block shouldn’t leave you facing hyper-aggressive junkie panhandlers, or worrying if the guy ranting to himself is about to explode.

Under their current walking orders, cops seem helpless — only able to “move them along” until they come right back. We don’t blame anyone for spending on private security — but that basic peace of mind should be every citizen’s right.

Helping the unfortunate get shelter needn’t force the city to give up on the first duty of government: keeping the streets safe.

But doing both at the same time does require New York’s leaders to face the fact that some homeless are toxic — and that the problem’s getting worse.