Transcript: Mayor Adams, DSS Commissioner Wasow Park Celebrate Opening of Deeply Affordable Housing Site for Women-Led Households During Women’s History Month

March 27, 2025

Commissioner Molly Wasow Park, Department of Social Services: Good morning, everybody. Thank you so much for being here. I am thrilled to open things up today. I think most of you already know, I'm preaching to the choir, but we live in a city with a 1.4 percent vacancy rate. And there are amazing housing agencies doing fantastic work. But at the Department of Social Services, we decided we couldn't wait. There's too much need. And so although most people don't think of us as a housing agency, we have jumped feet first into the housing space. 

And I am thrilled to be here in this beautiful new affordable housing services building. This is one of multiple projects. We have 461 units that are open and another 568 units in the pipeline. We are going to make sure that the families and individuals that are in DHS shelter have a pathway out and to connect to permanent housing, because that is what matters. That is our goal for everybody. And no matter what it takes, we are going to put our creativity to work to get us there. But none of that would be possible without a mayor who supports the goal and who supports the creativity. And I'm thrilled to introduce the mayor.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you so much, Molly. And you know, I could only imagine Thanksgiving, you sit around the table, talk about housing. Christmas, housing. Easter, housing. She probably, every time folks see, they say, we know, Molly, housing, housing, housing. 

She has done an amazing job of just her dedication, her commitment, and the challenging times of just making sure in her entire portfolio it's about how do you deal with a Maslow low hierarchy of need, food, shelter, clothing. And she's dealing with the most basic thing one could have. And it's not just four walls. It is a place, I like to say, the precursor to sleep to allow you to experience the American dream.

That kitchen table, that sofa, that bedroom, all of those places are where memories are made and born and ideals are felt. And if you are staying someplace that is not housing where you could commit yourself to and come home to, it is very difficult to get a start in life. Can you imagine waking up every day in unfamiliar surroundings and not feeling the comfort of your own home? That's just a basic need. And that is what we're fighting for. So I just really want to thank the commissioner. She's doing God's work, you know, of making sure Jesus was born in a manger. She's making sure our babies are born in a home. And that is just something that's powerful when you think about the work that she's doing. 

And so this month we're celebrating Women's History Month in March. It is my honor and privilege to present the keys to 64 affordable new homes to 64 households, a majority of which will be led by women. And I have often said women are the New York City's MVPs, most valuable players. And today we're putting those MVPs front and center. I've been surrounded by strong, empowered women all my life, including my mom who had six children that she loved, but she just adored me. I was her favorite child, you know, and everyone knows that. 

But for too long, women have not received their due. We pay women less than men. Their male counterparts overlooked and diminished their health needs and neglected their safety or family stability. But our administration is changing that. We're putting New York City women first and giving them homes to call their own so they can thrive. And when a woman thrives that heads a household, the entire household thrives. 

This new building is the latest in our efforts to create subsidized apartments for New Yorkers using CityFHEPS vouchers. It's one of the records that Molly and her team currently holds in how well we have utilized the CityFHEPS voucher program. More people have utilized those vouchers in the history of the program, when we look at our first two years, and I'm pretty sure we're gonna do well this year as well. 

And as part of the affordable housing service program, we launched last year to first track the creation of permanent affordable homes for people living in shelters. We vowed to build permanent affordable homes for New Yorkers living in shelters and we did. And with the opening of this building, we have built 460 deeply affordable homes to help put families in stable long-term housing so they can build better lives for themselves. And we are prioritizing women-led households with this building and as of today, approximately 70 percent of these units are rented to families where women are the head of the household. 

Last year, DSS helped more than 16,000 households. That's nearly 34,000 people move out of shelters and into stable homes. And just think about that number for a moment. 16,000 households, 34,000 people out of shelter into permanent homes and stable homes. And that is amazing when you think about it. Now, 35,000 New Yorkers have the chance to a better future. 

Additionally, we continue our back-to-back record-breaking calendar years producing affordable housing, including back-to-back years of most units produced for the formerly homeless for a total of 4,623 units. Back-to-back years of most supported units produced for a total of 2,761 units. And a record year of most senior units produced with 2,966 total units. 

This building also marks the next steps in our Women Forward Agenda, something that women created and we are instituting here in the city to put women, transgender, and gender-expansive people on the path to economic mobility, improve health outcomes, and housing stability. Housing is fundamental to living a healthy life in the greatest city in the world. And we're gonna continue to move forward in doing so. The turning over these keys to these families is unlocking a future that they can be proud of. And we, as New Yorkers, could be proud of. And as we move into Women's History Month in March, let's march towards having housing for every New Yorker, women, and family in this city. Thank you so much. Thank you, Molly.

Commissioner Wasow Park: So there's nothing that we do at the Department of Social Services without our not-for-profit partners. And there's certain organizations that when we put a crazy creative idea out on the table, we know that they're gonna say, sure, and how fast can we move? And Community Housing Innovations is one of those organizations. We are thrilled to partner with them. And I'm very excited to welcome up CEO Ron Abad.

Ron Abad, CEO, Community Housing Innovation: Good morning, all. There is nothing warmer than to have a home of your own. All agree?

Mayor Adams: Yes, that’s right.

Abad: Thank you, Mayor Adams, for your long standing leadership and commitment to serving all New Yorkers, providing affordable and supportive housing for all New Yorkers, particularly for those who have been residing in shelters. Thank you, Molly. And particularly, thank you for the passage of the City to Yes Housing Opportunity. Great opportunity, one of the most historic packages of housing in our city. Congratulations, mayor, for that. 

Thank you, DSS Commissioner Molly Park, a longtime partner and friend in the fight against homelessness and for more housing. Thank you for the partnership, particularly the DSS Affordable Housing Unit and the CityFHEPPS voucher. Thank you, City Councilmember Eric Dinowitz. Thank you for coming. 

Community Housing Innovations, our purpose is for all to have affordable housing of your own. We're so fortunate to provide affordable and supportive housing in New York City, Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens, in Long Island, in Westchester, and in Hudson Valley. We believe that every person needs a quality home. And we believe our vision is to foster, to break generational poverty and foster upward mobility so that every family has a safe and quality home. 

Thank you, CHI staff. Let's give hands to our CHI staff. And to Mark Stagg, the builder and his team, the painters, the tradesmen. We have to congratulate them for this. But this is awesome. If you bear with me, I have a minute. I was raised in this neighborhood. I went to P.S. 103 Elementary School a block away. I lived on 219th Street and Bronx Boulevard off Carpenter Avenue, raised in Section 8 housing. Both my parents died at Our Lady of Mercy Hospital right across the street. 

When I graduated out of law school and raised a family, I was a single father for many years, I had an apartment on 234th Street up the block. I went to the library, which was a respite for me as a young man at the library two blocks up. That's what it's about, Mayor Adams, correct? But it was all a foundation with housing. And we congratulate Chanda and all the other families that are moving into quality. Let's give Chanda a hand, quality home. 

This is a house warming. Every family, every individual needs a home of their own. And there is nothing warmer than to have your own home. Shelter is not a home, it's temporary. To have your own home, the dignity of having your own bed and your own kitchen is critical. To raise your children in quality care is critical, right, mayor? It's foundational for just decent living. And affordable housing is relative. 

There's affordable housing that's affordable based on your income. All people need affordable housing, right? Not just low-income people. All people need affordable housing. So we are so proud of our partnership with the mayor, with Molly Park, the elected officials, but particularly we are here to celebrate the folks who now have a key of their own, a lease of their own, an apartment of their own, and we thank you all for the partnership. Thank you.

Commissioner Wasow Park: I'm now really excited to welcome up Councilmember Dinowitz. We can't have a community without our local elected officials, right? And we are here. We are building a community, one building, one unit at a time, and we're really grateful for his support.

Councilmember Eric Dinowitz: She's really excited to see me. How are you? It's great to see all of you. I'm Councilmember Eric Dinowitz, and as you were naming the spots, it's actually exciting for me because I've represented Wakefield since 2021, but P.S. 103 and the library and this hospital are newly in my district based on the new lines that were drawn a couple of years ago, and it's a really special story. I think it speaks to the importance of housing and affordable housing. 

I grew up in affordable housing. My dad grew up in affordable housing. He was in NYCHA and rent-stabilized units. I was in Mitchell-Lama, and all of these programs allowed for us to be successful. I think I'm successful. Some people say being in the council is not very good. But growing up in Mitchell-Lama allowed my parents to save money, and as an adult, when I was a public school teacher, I was living in Mitchell-Lama housing and allowed me to save enough money and live affordably in our city and the city that I'm raising my family in, and now this opportunity is here for more and more New Yorkers, so I thank you. 

And especially in the area of Wakefield, an area that has been inundated with shelters, and the solution to homelessness isn't shelter. The solution to homelessness is housing. So every time we're building more apartments, every time we're making them more affordable for people, we are solving the problem of homelessness, and we need more housing, more developments like this, because we're not gonna get out of the homelessness problem by perpetuating homelessness, by keeping people in shelter, by finding people housing. 

And we've worked in the council to do that with the expansion of housing vouchers, for example, things that keep people in their homes. It's, of course, worth noting, without getting too political, but we are under threat from losing a lot of the funding we get from the federal government, the subsidies and the support we get from the federal government to do what we know is right, morally and right fiscally, and that's to keep people in their homes. And so I wanna thank, of course, everyone here for building more housing, affordable housing in our community, and for making sure the folks in Wakefield get more housing and not shelters. Thank you. 

Commissioner Wasow Park: The mayor clearly knows me when he said I talk about housing at every holiday, it is true, it is something that I think about constantly, but I think about it constantly not for the statistics and the numbers that I led with, although I do admit to being a bit of a numbers geek, but I think about it constantly because the homes that we live in are the foundation for everything else, right? 

It is incredibly difficult to think about educational journeys or health care or what our next employment step is when the first worry is where are you going to sleep tonight. So I am so thrilled at the end of the day that this is really about, this is a homecoming, this is a housewarming, and nobody can speak better to that than Ms. James, who is one of our new tenants here, and I'm so happy to welcome her.

Chanda James-Govan: Thank you so much, and good morning. Thank you, Commissioner Park. I just want to say thank you for this opportunity. You have no idea how much this means to a lot of people. My son and I– I have two children. My daughter's grown. She's 28. She went to college in Albany, absolutely loved Albany, so she stayed there. And my son is 18. I don't know how that happened nine and a half years later. I had another one, but he's autistic with special needs, so he's here with me, and he is my rock. And unfortunately, in August– [inaudible].

And with his autism, I was very, very worried and concerned how he would adapt to the rug being pulled out from under him. And normally, I am the buffer between my kids in the real world. I'm the filter between the struggle and the home, and it was nothing I could do. So I was so afraid that it would cause him to react, and surprisingly, he adapted, and his resilience, he became my filter. He became my rock. I looked to him for strength, patience, and it just all wound up working out, and I feel that I'm really blessed for that. I struck out on that one because I didn't know how it was going to go, and it went really, really well. 

But we did end up in a shelter, but then about a month, we got a CityFHEPPS voucher, which landed us with these wonderful people here. I'm a native Bronxite, Hunts Point, born and raised, so to be able to stay in the Bronx was very important to me, and it's important because my son goes to school every day until he's 22 because of his autism. So when these wonderful people opened up their doors and said, hey, you come on in and we've got you, let me tell you, it was the skies opened up, they opened up. 

And not only did I find a wonderful place to live, a wonderful area to live in, but the supportive people that are in charge here are unmatched. They are unmatched. We walked into an apartment that was furnished, kitchen, refrigerator, stove, microwave, couch, dining room, table with three chairs, two twin beds, and two tall chest of drawers. Opened up my closet, we've got a starter kit, garbage pail, washcloths and towels, a broom, I mean, the thing for the toilet, the little tiny things that you say, jeez, I got to go get me a— It was already there. It was already there. 

And then the other day, they show up at my door with these beautiful gifts, gifting me these— It's like a gift that doesn't stop giving. And when you call them, they're available. If you walk up and down the street and just take a blind random survey and you go around asking people, how would you rate your landlord? If you find somebody that says, my landlord's a 10, they're the landlord. I'm telling you, my landlord is a 11. 

I'm telling you, they are on site all day. They answer the phone. You can come downstairs at any time. If you have a question, if they don't have the answer, they find it for you before you walk away. You have never in your life seen such wonderful landlords, I guess, unless you are one. If you are one, then okay. But for tenants like me, we don't get gifted with wonderful landlords. People that actually want to support you and make sure that you not only have a good house, but you maintain it. You maintain the stability that you have what you need, and if you don't, they'll help you get it. As opposed to, hey, well, you better figure it out or you're out of here. That is not the attitude that you get from these people. 

I'm telling you the staff, Ms. Stephanie, Ms. Cynthia, Ms. Sabrina, Mr. Bryant, and definitely Ms. Precious. Ms. Precious is precious to me because she was assigned to me when I got here, and I love all of them. I'm only three weeks in, and I'm telling you, I'm singing their praises. It's just been a remarkable experience for me. I've never gone through anything like this, and I never wanted to, but now that I have the other side of that rainbow, I mean, the pot of gold, it was just enormous. My appreciation goes so far. It's so far reaching, especially for the support that I get from the people that are here. 

They make it their business to make sure that we are comfortable and that we are in no danger of being evicted, put out. We don't feel shifty. We feel our feet are firmly planted on the ground with every move and every day that we have here, and it's just remarkable. I could not ever thank them enough. 

I have to say to the mayor, thank you so much. At Department of Social Services, CHI, I have to say thank you so much because mothers like me, I'm telling you, we moved in on February 28th, and to me it was a big deal because it was the last day of Black History Month, and it was a day before Women's History Month, so it meant a lot to me to move in on that day and didn't have to buy anything. I didn't have to buy anything except something to eat, and it was a wonderful experience. 

The open space that we have, my son absolutely adores it. We didn't have windows in that shelter. We can see it rain now. We can see the sky. This morning when we're getting dressed for school, I said, DJ, look, there's a helicopter. So small to people that get to just do it every day. So huge for somebody who hasn't seen rain on their window in six months. I didn't know it was snowing unless I left the building. So this is an experience for my son and I that we will never forget. It's an opportunity that was given to us by so many people that we will never forget. I am the most grateful person that you will ever meet. I love you all for this. My son, I just, I thank you all for giving my son peace, joy, happiness, serenity, privacy, things that we take for granted when we have it, and when we lose it, we realize how important it is to us and our children. 

This housewarming event is amazing because not only does it mark and celebrate Women's History Month as well, but it's a precursor to the single mothers out there that the struggle is real, but with the right people behind you, you cannot fail. You don't have to feel so overwhelmed. You don't have to feel like you want to give up. Have hope. Keep hope. If you know somebody going through it, introduce them to these people because they will not fail you. They will not fail you. 

I'm sure they're going to kill me because I probably went off topic a million and one times. My nerves have gotten me, but I'm hoping that I hit all my key points. My son is great. I'm great. And it's thanks to all of you. And I could never thank you and the staff enough for what you all have done for me and my family and for all the families here. Thank you all so much.

Commissioner Wasow Park: So we are about to wrap up. Before we do, I want to say a huge thank you to the Department of Social Service staff who worked incredibly hard on getting this building open. I come up with crazy ideas and they make me look good by actually implementing it. So thank you very much. We are going to take some questions. So we'll open it up. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, you have a program here that's housing 1,000 New Yorkers permanently, right? And really solving homelessness. But at the same time, the city continues to do these homeless encampments [inaudible], which doesn't seem to be resulting in housing people. So why not redirect some of those resources or double down and find ways to expand these creative solutions to actually help in housing? 

Mayor Adams: Yeah. And actually our, you know, people usually utilize the term sweeps. Our housing dignity, there's no dignity in living on the streets. And I'm going to continue to push back on anyone that believes the philosophy that people should live on the streets. There's no dignity. 

In 2022, when I became mayor, I went and visited people who lived on the streets. I saw human waste. I saw stale food. I saw drug paraphernalia. I saw schizophrenic behavior, bipolar, and we were walking past them every day. And to take upon this challenge to say, as human beings, to see our brothers and sisters living on the street and thinking that's dignified, not to me. And so we moved to make sure our city is not looking like other cities where people are using public spaces as restrooms, cooking on the streets, children in these tents, cardboard boxes, living in the subway system, in the tunnels. That's not in the city. 

So the counting system that was being used was flawed. It was flawed because they were stating if the person didn't go directly to shelter after we told them about the encampment couldn't be there, that was the only way we were counting it. That was not the right way to count it. Some people went to shelter or other forms of living after they were notified. Some took a day or two to go after they were off the streets. We are giving people a pathway to shelter. 

And as we say, the numbers are clear, the numbers don't lie. More people use FHEPP's voucher program under this administration in the history of the program. More people transition from shelters to permanent housing under this administration in the history of the city in individual years. There's a clear track record that our methodology is working. 8,000 people were moved off the subway system that were dealing with mental health issues and other issues. We are leaning into the hard work, and it's not easy. Trust me, folks, it's not easy, particularly when you're dealing with severe mental health illness. I met a cop, a retired cop, living in one of the tents on the streets who had no clue what was going on. He had a stack of his pension checks. He was living there and no one took the time to go see him, but his mayor did. And so I'm going to challenge anyone that states what we're doing of treating people in a dignified way of not living on the street. 

These programs are working. It's going to take a while, and I know it's hard for people to realize, but the homeless crisis did not start January 1st, 2022. It was ignored before January 1st, 2022. When I became the mayor, I brought in my desire of putting people in housing, and I'm seeing one of them with your beautiful son. I'm going to stop and visit him, okay?

Question: This is a great announcement, but I wanted to ask you, the federal government says that the payments for CityFHEPS vouchers are going to end in 2026. Earlier today, Trump announced that he's going to slash 10,000 jobs at HHS, which affects programs here in the city. I wonder, from you and the commissioner, can you speak about those issues? Do you have a contingency plan in place on any of those issues? 

Mayor Adams: Listen, any cut in funding on a city or on a state or federal level is real. And we are going to continue to articulate for the funding that we need. And then we’re going to pivot, shift and adjust. Our mission is not going to change. We’re going to find the money that's needed to make sure we continue the programs like this. 

I stated, Maslow hierarchy of needs. We have an obligation and responsibility as a city to make sure we give people, at a minimum, food, shelter and clothing. We’ve always committed to that as a city and we’ve doubled down into that in this administration. 
And so no one wants to see cuts. We were notified of a potential cut coming out of Albany that’s going to impact the city. We don’t want to see cuts. New York City is the economic engine for the state and an economic engine for the country. And we’re going to fight on behalf of New Yorkers on every level of government.

Commissioner Wasow Park: Just to clarify, the housing cuts that we are looking at are emergency housing vouchers, which are a federal form of voucher. This building is funded with CityFHEPS, which is a city funded program. Doesn't mean that the whole thing isn't extremely concerning. We're coordinating closely with our colleagues with NYCHA and at HPD, who are the public housing authorities that administer them. But I do want to reassure the residents of this building that they aren't directly affected.

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

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