Transcript: Mayor Adams Announces Back-To-Back Record Years for Creating and Connecting New Yorkers to Affordable Housing

July 29, 2024

Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, Housing, Economic Development and Workforce: Good morning, everyone. My name is Maria Torres-Springer. I'm the deputy mayor for Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce. As I joked earlier, it's a beautiful day in New York, but it's also a really beautiful day not just to break records, but to share with all of you all of the many ways this administration, in partnership with so many who have joined us today, are really uplifting the lives of New Yorkers and tackling our housing crisis head-on. None of this would be possible, however, without our city's biggest housing champion and the most pro-housing mayor of all time, in our opinion. I'm honored to introduce the 110th mayor of New York City, Mayor Eric Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Real good stuff. You are not able to reach a purpose in life unless you have a purpose in life. The city has betrayed many New Yorkers for many years, and I not only know it professionally, I know it personally. I know what our family went through, and you just continue to take these mental notes as you move through life to make sure that other families are not going through the same things. 

We had to put the right team together in this administration, and it started with an amazing deputy mayor, Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, who really brought her own personal journey into why housing was important. We want to thank you so much for doing that. Matched with that was a leader over at HPD, what our commissioner has been able to do with his dedication and commitment and just quietly just making it happen. Adolfo is just a real visionary, and he bringing his personal journey. I think that's what's missed when you analyze this administration. You often look at the mayor and my story, my narrative, but look at the narrative of the team that I have built. When you can't talk about housing without having your own housing story, and this story is a real one. His team over there, that amazing team at HPD, who's working hard under so many different odds and so many challenges. It's not how good you are when the field is level, it's how good you are when the field is bumpy. 

Can you produce? Because no one elected me to define the problem, they elected me to solve the problem, and damn it, we're solving the housing problem in the city. Like it or not, the record speaks for themselves, but you can't do it alone. You have to have help in the City Council. My brother, City Council, Salamanca, has been just unbelievable in this journey. We need help in Albany. We were able to get some real W's in Albany this year, and one of the leading voices just everywhere, Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar is someone that has led in Albany. 

She came to this administration at the beginning of the year and said, what could I do to help for New York City? From cannabis, to housing, to mayoral accountability, and she has continually delivered for us. To have both of you here today means a lot to us. And Dan, the man. What a team, what a team. Dan has just mapped out all of these different issues that's important to us, and just dropping this portfolio into Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer's mission. She has been mission-driven on the housing conversation, and just assembled together a lot of focus, a lot of people who believed in us from day one that we can do it. 

You have to deal with folks who have formerly lived a life. That's what you have done, Brother Shams, kept us honest, kept us focused, kept us committed, bringing people together. I know it's a challenge, man, because people read the headlines and say, well, the mayor's not going to do it. You went on the ground. We rode together on 125th Street, went to the homeless shelters 1, 2 a.m. in the morning, spoke to people living on the streets. You are an authentic leader, and I cannot thank you enough. I got a chapter in my book about you, that? 

There's so many people to thank, and I'm sure others will be thanked. Molly and her team, and everyone that's here. We have a 1.4 percent vacancy rate. I was in the Bronx last week up in Morris Park, and people were saying about, housing initiative we're doing there. Everywhere I go, people tell me housing is a right, housing is a right. As soon as we put a brick down in a neighborhood, they say, wait a minute, not here. Build it somewhere else. Everyone is telling us no. Everyone is against single Black men. Everyone. There's not one community. They tell me, Eric, bring children and families, bring single women, bring this, bring that. Don't bring single Black men into our community. It's not acceptable. Then where do they go? Where do they go? 

Every community we go to, we hear the same thing. We would take any group but single adult Black men. I fit that description. I'm a single adult Black man. That's my description. Can't happen, folks. Look at all the protests. Protests are not for children and family shelters. Protests are not for single adult women. Protests are over one group, single Black and brown men. That's what we're fighting against in this city. We have to change the narrative. Housing is a right for everyone. There's not an asterisk that says everyone but single Black men, adult Black men. 

When you have a 1.4 percent vacancy rate and even lower when it's down to affordable housing, it brings a crisis that we have to address and we have to focus on. We can't be philosophical about it. We have to build more housing. We cannot wait any longer. It's going to take action because it takes time to build housing. This is what Dan has been telling us. This is what City of Yes is about. 

A year ago, I proudly stood here with HPD and the leadership and talked about the records that we broke over and over again and pounding and moving this housing through crisis after crisis but getting it done. I'm proud today to announce another record-breaking year for housing in New York City. In Fiscal Year 2024, thanks to the work of this DM and her team and HPD, we have produced a [combined 28,944] affordable housing and public housing when you look at what we have been able to accomplish. 

Back-to-back years in permanently supportive housing. A record. More housing for formerly homeless New Yorkers — Come on in, Shams — a record. Tax-incentive supportive affordable housing, another record. 

We're doing more than just building housing. We're connecting New Yorkers to housing. Connecting New Yorkers to housing. And you don't do it in the sterilized environment of your office space. You have to be in the streets connecting with New Yorkers. What Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom is doing, 7,000 people removed off our subway system that are dealing with mental health and other homeless issues, and 1,000 are remaining in shelter. You have to be unafraid to go and meet people where they are, not where you are. That's what this administration, we're not afraid to do it because we lead from the front. I'm in these streets. I don't hang out just in the office suites. I'm among everyday people and we're doing it. 

CityFHEPS, housing vouchers. A record and back-to-back, the number of people we please. We got more records. The Housing Connect lottery program. Everybody talks about Housing Connect. We are not taking that terminology just to be on paper. We're connecting people to housing. Housing Connect lottery, another record that we have been able to produce. We're going to run out of stickers before we run out of our success. And formerly homeless households, formerly homeless households moved into permanently affordable housing. When you talk about housing, you have to think about what this DM has done. I'm just going to give this to you to pin this up. Let me hold that for you. 

The solution to our housing affordability shortage crisis is simple. Got to build more. Got to build, got to build, got to build. Every neighborhood should take up on this portion of housing in their community. When you have 59 community boards and 10, they have built more affordable housing in one year than the other 49 combined. What does that say? Those communities that have not built: good schools, good access to health care, good access to good food, good transportation options. Where people should be living, they're not able to live. You cannot build walls around the housing and the opportunities in our communities. This is not the Deep South of 1950. Jim Crowism can't exist in our city. Every part of this city must have an obligation to build more housing. 

If we do it the way Dan is laying out, a little more throughout every community, it will be significant. That's why we calling on the City Council partners to come together and say yes to the City of Yes and helping the city build more housing and we can build our way out of this crisis. It's unbelievable when you look at communities like Salamanca’s, Councilman Salamanca’s, the number of shelters. How many shelters you have in your… Over 60 shelters in his community. And you have communities with none. Think about that. Over 60 shelters in his community and you have communities with none. Those City Council people who have none or one or two, they should be coming together and say, Salamanca, we're going to help you alleviate this burden. Not said, not in my district, not in my community. 

Just last month, together with Speaker Adams and the City Council, we invested a historic $2 billion in capital funds to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development into public housing of NYCHA. That's what Lisa has been doing over at NYCHA, making it livable. $80 billion NYCHA capital deficit. $80 billion. The federal government has abandoned NYCHA. We have to come up with creative ways. We've come up with NYCHA Land Trust. Everyone tried, they couldn't do it. We got it done. We went to Albany and we got it done. Now people are voting on their ability to finally fix NYCHA. I say over and over again, the bugles, that's not the cavalry, it's taps. NYCHA has been dying and we're going to make sure it's not going to die on our watch. 

That brings our investment in affordable housing over the current 10-year plan to more than $26 billion. We should have a sticker for that. That's another record. Are you going to run out of stickers? Going to run out of stickers before we run out of the records that we are breaking. That's why this administration has been committed to making the city more livable and more affordable. Every day we're fighting to make New Yorkers know that they can have a pathway forward. People just need hope. They just need to know that there's a vision that they could live through. Today we celebrate these record-breaking numbers. 

Together, we build a city that is more affordable and more accessible for all. I want to end by reminding us that these record-breaking numbers, they're just not digits on a piece of paper. These are human beings and it's so important that we look and see how we could help everyday people. Allen’s story touched me. We were at one of the town halls. People think we go to these town halls just because we want to do this ceremonial presentation. No, we're listening. We go back and we connect with people. 

Allen spoke with me about his inability to find housing. I was at an older adult town hall and about his struggles to find housing in our city. Thanks to countless agencies and partners from our Public Engagement Unit, the Home Support Unit, and Community Affairs Unit, to the BronxWorks, to Global Realty, we are proud to announce one of the people here is [Darryl White’s] wife, Tricia. She's here in the audience. I always get it wrong. That's what happens when you've been a lifetime bachelor. She helped Allen get the apartment. I want to, today, I want to honor Allen today and give him his keys.He stopped. He saw his mayor. He spoke to his mayor. We're not going to solve all the problems in the city, brother. I feel you, man.

Allen Pastures: I was out there. I was out there and looking and going to agencies and they was turning me down. They wasn't taking CityFHEPS vouchers and everything. That mayor, God sent me to you. Because without him, I wouldn't be here today with you being here. You did so much for me. I thank Global Realty and what you have did for me. Yvonne and all helpers and everybody from the city have done for me. Thank you. God bless you all. Thank you very much.

Mayor Adams: This is about… That's the human aspect of this. Home is more than a place of four walls. I say it over and over again. It's a precursor to sleep that allows you to experience the American dream. There's so many people that live in a nightmarish reality that in the most lucrative, probably city on the globe, we have our fellow New Yorkers that can't afford to live here and stay here. 

This is what's driving us. This is what's driving this administration. This is what's driving the advocates. This is what's driving the people who are here. What we must do, let's stop fighting each other and let's fight for the people who are hurting. All this petty squabbling, all this back and forth, all this finger pointing, all this name calling is leaving Allen in the street. We showed you that we could do this. Come and join us. Let's do it together. The reason we're able to do it is because we have a deputy mayor that believes. Thank you, DM.

Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Thank you so much, mayor, and congratulations, Allen. Thank you for reminding us why all of us who are in this room who've been doing this work, why we have to get up in the morning and just keep going and keep pushing. Thank you. I also want to thank Yvonne White, the housing specialist, of course, with the Home Support Unit. We call that HSU. It's a landlord and broker team within the Mayor's Office of Public Engagement. She worked with [Manuela Nuñez] and Joseph Armato at Global Realty who are here today to find Mr. Pastures’ apartment. 

This is how the work really happens. People from all realms of our housing world making sure that New Yorkers like Allen live a better life. Thanks to all of you. Just a friendly reminder, if you are a property owner or a broker interested in partnering with the Home Support Unit, please connect with one of our specialists at nyc.gov/HSU or call (212) 331-6240. 

I now want to acknowledge some of my colleagues across government who have been so key to this effort. Of course, our first deputy mayor, Sheena Wright. Commissioner Carrión and his extraordinary team at HPD. We'll hear from the commissioner in just a second. Molly Wasow Park, the commissioner of the Department of Social Services. Of course, Lisa Bova-Hiatt, the CEO of NYCHA. Leila Bozorg, the city's executive director for housing. Dan Gaordnick, our director of City Planning. Jimmy Oddo — Jimmy, don't hide in the back — our commissioner of the Department of Buildings and DOB is so critical to making sure we get people, families in the buildings. Ruth Moreira, of course, the first executive vice president of our Housing Development Corporation. 

This room also has an incredible constellation of partners in the civic, not-for-profit and industry. Again, it takes a village and we have just been so grateful for all of the partnership, not just for the closings that represent this fiscal year and the production records that we collectively have broken, but in the continued pursuit to make sure that we're just turning over every stone to solve our housing crisis. 

The mayor mentioned that 1.4 percent vacancy rate. We knew in the face of that type of statistic, we really had no more time for the finger pointing or the hand wringing that often happens when you're facing a challenge that stark. The mayor set in motion a moonshot goal of 500,000 new homes over the course of the next decade. We have gone about the steady drum beat, not just of talking about that moonshot, but a steady drum beat of action. Our housing agencies have heeded the call like they did last year in producing the historic results that we just described. 

I also wanted to outline some other important points to complement what the mayor just mentioned that are critical to seeing the full story of these numbers. In the last fiscal year, over a fifth of all of the homes financed by HPD will serve people earning between zero and 30 percent of area median income. That's a maximum of about $42,000 for a family of four. Along with the highest lottery and homeless placements on record, we also increased the number of homeless households getting into HPD-financed developments by 57 percent from the last fiscal year. We doubled the number of home ownership units we financed this year, including the highest number of new construction home ownership units in a decade. We also saw the second highest number of senior housing produced in this city and the second highest subsidized extremely low income housing. 

The records go on and on. As the mayor mentioned, we've run out of stickers, but it truly represents an extraordinary team effort. Now usually we do this event and it's just about HPD, but the mayor has been very clear from day one of this administration we can't talk about housing without making sure that the work of NYCHA to transform not just apartments but lives is really front and center. The total number also includes 3,600 or so units transformed through PACT. This comes at the heels not just of getting that authorization for the trust in Albany for the public housing Trust, but really moving full speed ahead in engaging residents from the Nostrand houses to Bronx River Addition and now Coney Island and Unity Towers so that they have a real say in what happens to their buildings. In total, thanks to PACT, over 37,851 apartments across about 140 NYCHA communities are in pre-development, under construction, or have completed renovations. They're well on our way. 

In the moonshot, the mayor said we have to build faster and we are doing that by cutting red tape across the agencies, accelerating the conversion of offices into housing, adding $2 billion to the budget as the mayor mentioned. He also said we have to build everywhere. We have done that by advancing neighborhood plans throughout the five boroughs. This is my favorite, one of my favorite statistics which really gives a sense as to what is at stake in our partnership with the City Council and so many others. The number of homes projected to be built as a result of this administration, both City of Yes for Housing Opportunity and the five proposed major rezonings across the five boroughs, that total in the first term of this administration is more than twice the projection of new units produced in the entirety of Michael Bloomberg's term, all 12 years, and more than four times the projection of what was produced in de Blasio's eight-year term. More than double all of Bloomberg, more than four times all of de Blasio, so that's what's at stake if we continue to work together.

Mayor Adams: How do you like me now?

Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: As I mentioned, we don't do this alone, but really a lot of this is driven by the extraordinary team at HPD and so it's really my pleasure to introduce the person who's been overseeing this work and before he comes up I want to give a shout out to his truly spectacular deputy commissioner for Development, Kim Darga. Where's Kim? Kim's here somewhere, but please commissioner, carry on. Thank you. 

Commissioner Adolfo Carrión Jr., Department of Housing Preservation and Development: Thank you, deputy mayor. Good morning, everybody. We're in the Bronx, so buenos dias. I want to echo the deputy mayor's congratulations for our deputy commissioner for Development. She's got her hands full. I'll tell you a little bit about it, but we have a lot of people here in this room who are part of our team and I just want them to raise their hand, just wave, and so people, the HPD people everywhere. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. 

I know the mayor knows how this feels. I know the deputy mayor knows how this feels. I know that my colleagues know how this feels. We have a privilege of being the captain of a ship, but it's the crew that makes it work. It is all these hands that are on deck all the time, every day, 24/7 to make this work. I want to thank the mayor for his leadership and his insistence that we get stuff done right away, that we answer the call of history right away.

From day one when I was asked to be the commissioner of this agency, I knew that the mayor shared the same sentiment that I bring to my work in public service. This is deeply personal, deeply personal, and I'm not going to bore you with my story because many of you have heard it. I try to do it at every opportunity, but I'll just give you a snippet. Two late teen Puerto Rican kids arrive into 1950s New York City. They lived the West Side Story. It was not pretty. The song makes it look nice, I'd like to live in America, but it was not that nice. There were tremendous clashes and they had to grind to get here, and we continue to grind, Mr. Mayor. 

I'm going to just share with you a few words and then a little reflection on some of the projects that embody the work we do, and I do have to say that Allen and Ghita are the embodiment, the manifestation of the work we do, and we do it with an incredible group of partners. You're going to hear from Brenda Rosen. We are in a building now that was built by Bronx Pro and has a social service partner, development partner, Services for the Underserved. Thank you. Give them a big round of applause. 171 units of supportive housing, and it's a mix of 103 units of formerly homeless folks, and then there's those of you who speak, the governmentees know about the 15/15 program. That's for people with special needs. We continue to insert that, right, Kim, in every project where we can, but these are the folks we work with, and it requires that partnership all over the five boroughs to make it happen. 

We are about to celebrate 400 years as a city coming up in 2025, 400 years. I was just in Dublin, mayor. They're celebrating their 1,000th anniversary, so we are a baby, As a nation, 248 years. As a city, 400, but the notion of New York is the most attractive, philosophical, and is the most compelling notion on the globe right now, and it continues to be. We created the city on a hill. We created a city of hope and opportunity. We must ensure that this is a City of Yes for Economic Opportunity, right, Dan, a City of Yes for Environmental Responsibility as we hand it over to future generations, and a City of Yes for Housing Opportunity. We cannot be the city of no. 

When my parents got here, ensuing generations after, have all been arriving with the hope that this city will embrace them, will house them, and will prepare their families for participation in, like the mayor suggests, in the American dream, in the pursuit of a better life. That cannot stop, and so the work that we do and the grind of the 2,500 employees at HPD and the many more at NYCHA and the so many in all of these sister agencies all working hand in hand to ensure that we have these back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back victories and record years is built on this idea that New York needs to continue to be that city of opportunity, and so I am so proud to be part of this team, part of this effort. 

Like I said, we're here at Melrose North, Melrose Tower, Melrose North. I got it the first time. I should have just stopped. But there's also a number of other successes that embody… And you see in the hallway when you go back outside, stop at those boards and look at the work that we've done. The conversion of a mega hotel near Kennedy Airport, 100 percent affordable housing with social services for formerly homeless New Yorkers. Grace's Place, in partnership with our M/WBE development partner, 82 units of affordable housing for very low-income adults in downtown Far Rockaway. Greenpoint Hospital, St. Nick's, Hudson, the Department of Homeless Services, 300 units of deeply affordable housing on a city-owned site. Cadman North, 250-unit co-op in Brooklyn Heights. 45th Street. 45th Street will transform a substantially vacant building into safe, affordable housing for formerly homeless New Yorkers. 

The story goes on and on and on, and at the end of the day, working in partnership with all of these good people and our partner, our finance partner at the New York City Housing Development Corporation. Thank you, Ruth Moreira. Give her a big round of applause. It gives us a chance. It gives us an opportunity to get to this moment and ensure that we answer the call of history, the challenge of our time, and ensure that Allen and Ghita and so many, so many people have the opportunity for a good home. Thank you all.

Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Thank you, commissioner. Now I'd like to call up someone who's an amazing civic leader, a housing leader, and has really helped build and proven the highly successful model of supportive housing in this city. She has been with us through so many different complicated but really impactful projects. Please join me in welcoming the president and CEO of Breaking Ground and the chair of the Supportive Housing Network of New York, Brenda Rosen.

Brenda Rosen, President and CEO, Breaking Ground; Chair, Supportive Housing Network of New York: Thank you, deputy mayor. Always. I remember six years ago, the deputy mayor, who was then HPD Commissioner, touring the just-acquired 90 Sands with me. While much has changed in the intervening years, your commitment to championing supportive housing is as strong as ever, and today's announcement is a testament to that. 

Good morning, everyone. My name is Brenda Rosen. I'm president and CEO of Breaking Ground and board chair for the Supportive Housing Network of New York. We're thrilled to be here today at this beautiful new supportive housing project to celebrate a great milestone for New York City. A historic number of supportive apartments, over 2,100, the most on record in a single year produced for our city's most vulnerable. 

The supportive housing model was developed in New York City over 40 years ago, and we at Breaking Ground and the Network have been doing this work for more than three decades. Study after study has shown that supportive housing, a combination of affordable housing and voluntary services like case management and mental health and addiction counseling, is the most effective method to help people overcome chronic homelessness and find dignity and security in housing. Today, there are more than 40,000 supportive units in the city, helping tens of thousands of New Yorkers get on the path to healthy, independent living. We all know this is not enough, but we're grateful to this administration for doing as much as possible to bring more units online. 

Three years ago, Mayor Adams announced his housing plan at 90 Sands, Breaking Ground's supportive residence in Brooklyn. It's incredibly gratifying to see the plan coming to fruition and to celebrate it at another supportive residence, Melrose North — you need to rename it — in the Bronx, I'm sorry. Melrose North is a great example of a whole-of-government approach to supportive housing: land provided by NYCHA, financing from HPD and HTC, service contracts from both NYC 15/15 and Empire State Supportive Housing Initiatives, and an experienced development team in Bronx Pro Group and Services for the Underserved, all creating 171 apartments for single adults exiting homelessness, survivors of domestic violence, and low-to-moderate income households. 

At the organization I lead, Breaking Ground, we know that big problems require big solutions. We were fortunate to work with HPD to acquire 1760 3rd Avenue in East Harlem last month. We plan to convert this former dormitory into 435 units, including 261 supportive units for youth, adults, and seniors exiting homelessness, and 174 units for low-income New Yorkers. Big projects like this are only possible because of our great partners at HPD who stick with us to get them across the finish line. I'm happy to note that these units are not included in this year's production numbers, so we're giving you a preview of what's to come in 2025. 

I also just want to take a moment to highlight this year's exceptional supportive housing production. Over 1,500 units of newly constructed supportive housing providing homes for people to exit shelter or come off the streets and find stability and dignity in housing, and 649 supportive apartments preserved, ensuring those units will serve generations for vulnerable New Yorkers. About 1,000 of the units produced this year were under the New York City 15 Program and 500 under the Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative. That's outstanding and a testament to this administration's commitment to prioritizing our vulnerable neighbors. When combined with the efforts to aid households exiting shelter to affordable apartments through homeless set-asides, this is a banner year for helping people find a way home when they need it most. Thank you again, and let's keep the momentum going.

Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Thank you so much, Brenda. As both the mayor and Commissioner Carrion mentioned, for so many of us this work is really personal. For me, our family, when I was growing up we really relied on a Section 8 voucher. It was a lifeline for us, and it was very clear when it felt like [the] government was trying to help you, and also clear when it felt like they weren't. We take all of this very personally. It's a deep commitment to making sure that the programs work, not just for the numbers, but for individuals who are on the other end of that phone call and whose future depends on whether or not we really live up to the values and aspirations that we have here in this city. From one person whose life was impacted by affordable housing to another, please allow me to introduce Ghita Walker, a former public servant and One Waterline Square resident, to speak about how the city's affordable housing work has impacted her life. Ms. Walker.

Ghita Walker: Thank you. Thank you. First of all, let me thank everyone here involved in all these programs, and congratulations to you. It's going to be lovely. Thank you. Also, I'd like to say I'm missing The View this morning to do this, but I wouldn't miss it for the world. 

I'd like to say that with Housing Connect, I went on Housing Connect like several years ago. I stayed on there relentlessly. A lot of people give up and say, oh, I applied and nothing happened, and those people, I always say to them when they say that to me, you have to stay on it. You have to stay on it. I myself only wanted to live in Manhattan because I grew up in Harlem. I'm a Harlem girl. I did apply in Brooklyn, and I did apply in the Bronx, but lucky for me, I was given an opportunity to move into a beautiful apartment on West 59th Street, Waterline 3, and I love it. Where else could I live where two Knicks players live in the same building? 

It's lovely. I love it, and when people, I use Access-A-Ride, so when the Access-A-Ride drivers drop me off, and sometime there are other riders on there, they are amazed when they see my building, and I always tell them you got to go on Housing Connect, and you got to and you got to stay on there. You can't give up. I myself used to do it… Sometimes when I knew apartments were becoming available on a certain day, I would go on at midnight. Soon as the process started, I would go, and I would stay on there, and I was fortunate enough to get a call three years ago in October, at the beginning of October, to send them my paperwork, and on my birthday, which is in October, they called me to tell me I had the apartment. 

Anytime that I can encourage people to go on Housing Connect and stay on Housing Connect, I will, because it's been a blessing and a godsend to me, and I'm sure it will be for others. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Thank you, Ms. Walker, for, among other things, making the ultimate sacrifice of missing The View this morning to be with us. We are very appreciative. Finally, I'm going to invite a couple of partners who are in elected office, who've just been such tremendous champions of affordable housing and housing, not just in their districts, but really throughout the city and throughout the state. First, I'd like to invite the chair of Land Use and a partner in all things, please join me in welcoming Chair Rafael Salamanca.

City Councilmember Rafael Salamanca: Thank you, deputy mayor. Buenos dias. It is a humid day here today. I want to start off first by congratulating Bronx Pro on 171 units of housing. We negotiated this project a few years back when this building was actually in my district. Then you started construction, and then redistricting happened, and it got carved out. Congratulations. You've done other projects, other constructions in my district as well. 

Today's critical announcement is welcome news for the countless New Yorkers who are all too familiar with the struggles to find quality affordable housing. The demand for safe, affordable housing and the oversaturation of homeless shelters is an issue that my district, the 17th Council District, has experienced firsthand. It's an issue that I've made a pillar of my tenure in the City Council. Since taking office, my Council District has created more affordable housing than any Council District in the City of New York.

Mr. Mayor, I'm going to take credit for some of these stats here today. I'm going to start with this. Last year alone, the 17th Council District, my district, created more affordable housing than 26 Council Districts combined, which is more than half the City Council. That was 1,266 units. In a 10-year span, my Council District has created 9,019 units of 100 percent affordable housing. Now, when we speak about the numbers for the homeless set-aside, well, I am the author of the 15 percent homeless set-aside that required every developer that is getting any city dollars that they would have to set aside 15 percent of their units for homeless families. Therefore, taking that argument away from community boards who are pushing back on that set-aside. 

Now, let's be clear. The South Bronx cannot be the only community to solve this housing crisis alone. Every community must do their part. My colleagues must push back on NIMBYism and continue to build housing. I'm going to say this again. My colleagues must push back on NIMBYism and continue to build housing. In the midst of one of the worst housing crises the city has experienced, the record-setting for Fiscal Year 24 numbers that the Adams Administration has overseen, on the back of an equally impressive FY23 haul, sends a symbolic message to New Yorkers everywhere: when faced with great adversity, New York City is answering the call. The hard work is far from over. The goal for next year is to be right back here announcing another record-breaking year. 

We can all do this by making sure that all 51 Council Districts, again, all 51 Council Districts, are an ally in producing affordable housing. It's a message I remain passionately committed to spreading within the New York City Council. Despite the work of District 17 and many of my colleagues in the Bronx are doing, it takes every district to do their part. I want to thank you, Mr. Mayor and your team and HPD. As chair of the Committee on Land Use, just know that you have a partner here when we're speaking about building affordable housing. 

Brevemente, en español: Me llamo Rafael Salamanca Jr., yo soy el concejal del Sur de Bronx. Estamos aquí haciendo el anuncio de todas las viviendas accesibles que hemos creado aquí en la ciudad de Nueva York. Pero quiero estar claro, que el distrito mío, del Sur de Bronx, ha creado más viviendas accesibles que todos los concejales, todos los 51 distritos de los concejales en la ciudad de Nueva York. El año pasado, mi distrito construyó más viviendas accesibles que 26 concejales de los 51, y eso fue un número de 1,266. Y en 10 años, el distrito mío ha construido 9,019 apartamentos. Es importante que le mandemos un mensaje a los concejales y a las comunidades, que todo el mundo tiene que hacer su parte, porque este problema no es solamente de un distrito, sino es el problema de la ciudad de Nueva York. Le queremos dar las gracias al alcalde y a la administración por moviéndose adelante, asegurándose que los neoyorquinos tengan un sitio para vivir. Gracias.

Translation: Briefly in Spanish: My name is Rafael Salamanca Jr., I am the councilmember for the South Bronx. We are here announcing all the affordable housing that we have created here in New York City, but I want to be clear that my district, in the South Bronx, has created more affordable housing than all the councilmembers, all 51 districts in New York City. Last year, my district built more affordable housing than 26 councilmembers out of 51, and that was a number of 1,266. And in 10 years, my district has built 9,019 apartments. It is important to send a message to the councilmembers and the communities that everyone has to do their part, because this problem is not just a one district problem, but this is a New York City problem. We want to thank the mayor and administration for moving forward, ensuring that New Yorkers have a place to live. Thank you.

Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Thank you so much, councilmember. Finally, one of our fiercest allies in Albany, if you rewind the clock about a year, we started with the session in Albany wanting four things: a replacement for 421-a, a new tax incentive for office conversions, lifting of an artificial cap on density in this city, and more tools to make basements more safe. 

Everyone said it couldn't happen. It was too hard. Try again a few years from now. We stayed committed to that mission. Thanks to many partners, including our next speaker, we got it done in Albany this year, and we're really looking forward to continuing to use those tools. Please join me in welcoming Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar.

State Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar: Good morning. The affordable housing crisis is real. In a city of often abundant wealth, I think it's also important to remember the approach of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who noted that the test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much. It is whether we provide enough for those who have too little. Ensuring that every New Yorker has a place to call home is a moral imperative. It's about ensuring that everyone has a shot in this city. Ladies and gentlemen, the only way to solve our city's housing crisis is to build our way out of it. 

As a state lawmaker, I have been fighting hard in Albany over two legislative sessions to create more affordable housing for New Yorkers. We have delivered wins in Albany. That includes allowing for office conversions, which will utilize 76 million square feet of vacant office space in our city. How much is that? It's the size of over 1,300 football fields. All of that space will now be used for affordable housing units. In Albany, I helped pass the NYCHA Community Land Trust, which is unlocking billions in federal dollars for NYCHA. Having been deeply connected to friends who live in NYCHA, knowing how their apartments need to be repaired, knowing how their building doors need to be fixed, elevators fixed, it gives me great satisfaction to have helped unlock this record funding for NYCHA apartments. 

What you are seeing is a true state and city partnership to solve our housing crisis. As you know, I love numbers. In this case, as has been said, the housing numbers are bleak. Over half of New Yorkers are rent burdened. The vacancy rate, as has been said, is at an all-time low of 1.4 percent. NYCHA has had to replace 275 elevators across 22 developments. Now the good numbers that we've heard today that give us hope, the record-breaking years overseen by our mayor, and that is 28,944 units and lives that will be helped and uplifted. The mayor has also set the moonshot goal to build over half a million new homes in this city. 

Since I'm the last speaker, I must also say that it's time for us to be visionary in our approach to housing. That is why I have introduced new legislation in our state capitol to study 3D printed houses. 3D printing will revolutionize housing construction, allowing us to print a single-story home in under 24 hours for less than $4,000. Cities from Indianapolis to Dubai are embracing 3D printing. Mayor, you will love this. Tech is being developed where a bunch of drones equipped with 3D printers are going to fly like a swarm of bees constructing skyscrapers. Imagine that, drones made in New York City, and they're going to make the skyscrapers of our city. 

We can and we must be visionary. It's been done before. In 1955, Assemblymember Alfred Lama and State Senator Mitchell came together to pass the groundbreaking Mitchell-Lama housing program. That addressed our housing shortage after World War II. The Mitchell-Lama program still has 100,000 units in our city, about 176 buildings still in this program. New Yorkers come up to me all the time and say, please preserve our Mitchell-Lama Housing. We are going to do this and more, creating a future of long-term housing stability for New Yorkers. As the great Maya Angelou said, the ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned. By ensuring that every New Yorker has a safe and stable place to live, we will honor that deep and universal need. Thank you and congratulations to this team.

Mayor Adams: I told the commissioner we need to look at that 3D, we'll do a few questions and on topic, and then I just want to respond to one off-topic question.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. I want to talk about the CityFHEPS housing vouchers numbers, back-to-back record-breaking years. The number could be a lot higher if you implemented the measures passed by the Council, specifically expanding access to CityFHEPS vouchers for people facing eviction. Can you talk about why you're continuing to block that?

Mayor Adams: Number one, when you look at the number of people who currently are in possession of CityFHEPS vouchers, when you look at that number and now you want to add on a substantial increase with people having CityFHEPS vouchers, you're going to overburden the program, particularly with the 1.4 percent vacancy rate. 

To simplify it, here you have a pie. We're saying let's make more pies, but right now you have a certain fixed number of vacancies, 1.4 percent. If you now add on more people who want more pieces of those pies, what is going to happen? 

Question: [Inaudible]. I hear what you are saying, but these are people who are in their apartments already, so are you saying that if they were to be evicted, that opens new vacancies for people with vouchers who are in shelter to move into their units? 

Mayor Adams: No, let's give folks assistance not to be removed from their apartments. Let's not have them removed from their apartments and say, now let's go [inaudible] for people who are removed from their apartment. There's so many programs and incentives that we need to do to make sure we don't get people removed from their apartment. 

Question: Can I just follow up? That's what sounds like, that's what I think that bill would do, right? Would give people that assistance so they aren't removed from their apartments? 

Mayor Adams: No, I think so. I see Molly's moving close to me, like she wants to get a part of this. Why don't you come in?

Commissioner Molly Wasow Park, Department of Social Services: Thank you. Just to expand on what the mayor said, there's 11,000 households in shelter who currently have a CityFHEPS shopping letter who can't find a place to live. We are absolutely constrained by the vacancy rate, but DSS doesn't stop with CityFHEPS. We have a very robust, what's known as emergency one-shot program to help people stay in their homes. We are providing legal assistance. Last year we provided home-based assistance to 98,000 households. Overwhelmingly, something 95 percent of those people stayed in their homes. It is incredibly important that we assist people in remaining housed and avoiding eviction. We have a spectrum of services to do that. Expanding CityFHEPS really is using a sledgehammer for something that can have much more surgical intervention.

[Crosstalk.]

Mayor Adams: One way not to get your question answered is to yell it out after we say we're moving on. We can answer that question when you speak to the team. The team is here. They're not going to bounce. Go ahead.

Question: I wanted to follow up on you saying that communities pushing back against shelter was, to you, discrimination. Can you give me some specific examples you've seen during your time in office of that? Was the protest two weeks ago in Bensonhurst, which is for a single male shelter, people doing substance abuse, mental health issues, was that an example of discrimination?

Mayor Adams: First, I'm glad I'm in a room with cameras and a lot of other people. I did not use the term discrimination one time. I did not. I was very clear. When I look at the protests that are happening around the city about shelters, people tell us all the time, bring in children with families. Bring in adult women. Don't bring us single Black and brown men. That's what I'm saying. 

Now, the reason they don't want them in, you got to go to them and ask them that. I don't know the reason. I'm not going to get into someone's head. What I do know, every demo I have, we would take everyone else but single Black and brown men. I don't know their logic behind that. I think it's problematic. 

There are many districts. It's not one. There's a host of them. I'm not trying to put electeds on blast because not only in the Council, I get it from the Assembly. I get it from the Senate. I get it from everyone. Don't bring us single Black and brown men. That's what I get. The examples are too far to mention. A quick Google search on [LexisNexis] will tell you all of these demonstrations and protests of fighting, pushing back on single adult men. 

What I'm surprised about is that no one has covered this. Why aren't people raising this in your storylines instead of Eric is building a single adult male shelter somewhere? Why haven't we dealt with this pink elephant in the room? The protests that you're seeing in the city are for single adult Black and brown men. We're lining them all up in Salamanca's districts and other districts. That's wrong. 

Question: Are you hoping by calling it out… You did evoke the Jim Crow South in your comments. Are you hoping by calling it out, you will get ahead of this pushback?

Mayor Adams: No, pushback is going to come. It's sexy. It's attractive. It drives clicks, it drives storylines. What I am going to do is stay fast to my son is a single adult Black man. I don't want anyone protesting against him not coming into the area. I'm not trying to get ahead. What I'm trying to get ahead of is not their narrative. This, record, record, record, record, record.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor Adams: Good. How are you?

Question: Good. I saw the affordable housing total included about 5,400 421-a units. I'm just curious what your administration has seen with the new version of that program approved in April. I know there were some concerns expressed in the real estate community that programs were costly. Have you gotten, have you seen interest in using it from developers? 

Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Yes, we have and it was a big deal and positive given you mentioned the 5,000 number. A large percentage of our new construction is driven by 421-a. We call those 421-a standalone projects and those are really important because you get affordable without additional city subsidy. That's an efficient way to bring affordable housing in particular in high-opportunity neighborhoods of the city. 

Ever since the budget was passed, remember we got two new tools. One is an extension of the old 421-a program and then a new program. Right now we are pounding the pavement with members of industry, owners who both have projects that could benefit from the extension and from the new one. We have some rulemaking that needs to happen to solidify the rules of both programs but we are already getting a lot of interest and that is a good thing because we have to make sure that particular engine stays strong so that we can complement the production of affordable that comes from that tax incentive with a lot of the units that represented here today that are more city-subsidized.

Question: May I have one more question? Two or three weeks ago in Bushwick, there was a fire and more than a dozen Latino families left without home and two kids critical. Allegedly the cause of the fire was on purpose by a person a resident with mental health issues that he was living in that place by this program that house homeless, especially with mental illness. My question is, how are you going to keep your endeavor to keep housing people that they are homeless especially with mental illness without putting in danger other neighbors that happen in this situation? 

Mayor Adams: Two things, first of all clearly our heart goes out to those family members who lost their loved ones and those who may have been displaced because of this. And there are examples we could give on so many different scenarios, but our brothers and sisters who are dealing with mental health illness and severe mental health illness, we are finding that the best thing to do is have a cross-section of people living in that environment because people need community, they need care, they need support. 

We are going from the days that we just want to lock them up somewhere and not give them the love and the care that comes with community care and support. This is what Dr. Vasan has stated and we don't know what was the origin of this fire and if hypothetically something of this magnitude happened because of someone with severe mental health issues, that is not the example that we're seeing across the city. We're seeing that these programs are working, they're producing good results and they're giving people the support and love and nurture and the care that they deserve and this is the direction we want to stay on. 

Okay, I want to first answer the solitary confinement emergency executive order that I put in place and I want to start off with the top that no one seems to ever want to print and write and report, we don't have solitary confinement in New York State. It doesn't exist. I don't support it. I think it's inhumane. It would never be something that should ever return back to our state and it shouldn't be even in our country. That is always seem to be missing from these articles, folks. We don't have solitary confinement in New York State and this administration does not support solitary confinement. 

We did an emergency executive order that was narrowly tailored to the problems that the monitor stated were dangerous to inmates and dangerous to those civilians and Correction officers and all we ask is for time for the monitor and the judge to analyze these parts of the bill that the monitor stated is dangerous and could bring harm. That's all we ask. We didn't ask to remove the bill. The bill is still in place. It's very specific and narrowly tailored. 

Everyone has been telling us for the last two years in eight months — seven months — listen to the monitor, listen to the monitor, listen to the monitor. Can someone interview the monitor and ask what does the monitor feel about this? I am not going to put civilians, Correction officers, and inmates in harm's way. I'm not going to do that. If the court overruled me, then so be it. I did my best effort to protect those who are on Rikers Island. Everyone says we must make Rikers Island safe. The monitor is saying there’s parts of the bill that are going to endanger the safety of correction officers and inmates. 

80 percent of those who are attacked on Rikers Island are inmates. Inmates are saying we want to be safe and when I visit Rikers Island — who by the way visited Rikers Island more than any mayor in the history of the city — and I speak with inmates and I speak with Correction officers, they just want to be safe and I have an obligation to make them safe like I make people who walk the streets of this city safe. That is what this is about. Those who are saying we're trying to reverse solitary confinement, you can't reverse what's not here. We don't have solitary confinement. We're not trying to reverse the law. We're specifically listening to what the monitor said and we are addressing that. We'll take a few questions if there are any. If there's not, I'll bounce. Yes.

Question: Hi, mayor. 

Mayor Adams: How are you? 

Question: Good, thank you. I just have two questions. Did you speak to Speaker Adams before issuing this executive order and does that executive order apply to the part of the bill that also talks about handcuffing inmates on their way to Rikers?

Mayor Adams: Yes, I did speak with the speaker and tell her I understand what the position is of the Council. I respect the position of the Council. Here's what I'm going to do. Our goal is just to give the judge and the special monitor time to analyze this and make the determination what's the best way to move forward. 

Now this EEO, the emergency executive order, EEO, the emergency executive order, came after days of negotiating with the Council legal team. Our team sat down, negotiated with them and stated, listen, this is what the monitor is saying. That monitor was put in place to ensure safety on Rikers Island and there was just, we reached an impasse. Out of that impasse, I can make one of two options. I could ignore what the commissioner of Correction told me and ignore the special monitor and just openly say we're just going to put people in danger and that's irresponsible for me. Or I can listen to the legal team and the corp counsel, special monitor. They said, Eric, you need to do an emergency executive order. That is why we're doing it. This is public safety and I'm not going to put these inmates and employees on Rikers Island in danger. 

Question: Does it apply to the handcuffs?

Mayor Adams: Yes. One of the provisions of this order is transporting inmates on buses without restraints. Imagine this for a moment. A person commits a crime, a police officer arrests that individual and we have a law that say you cannot handcuff that person when you put them in the back of the RMP or the police vehicle and take them to the precinct or while you are processing. 

We would never stand for that in this city and no police officer would stand for that. One of the most dangerous things you can do is transport someone, even with that partition in the car, that partition, you still could be in danger if you have a person that's not restrained with handcuffs after they committed a crime. There have been too many times in my career as a law enforcement officer when officers were shot, officers were attacked by transporting prisoners, even while they are handcuffed, mind you.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor Adams: How are you? 

Question: Good, how are you? 

Mayor Adams: Good. 

Question: I wanted to ask, you mentioned two years ago, over two years ago, there was always talk that this bill wasn't a good bill. Why wasn't that then the conversation between your administration and the council, why weren't those talks in earnest? Where did those negotiations break down that now you've had to issue this executive order? I also wanted to get your reaction. Jumaane Williams was on our show this morning and he mentioned that you're abusing your power as the executive of the city. I wanted to get your reaction to that.

Mayor Adams: I don't have a reaction to that. 8.3 million people, 35 million opinions. I'm fighting for New Yorkers and I think in retrospect, one of the biggest errors I made in my two years and seven months as mayor is that while we were fighting to do this, those petty differences were highlighted and I have to ask myself, did you contribute to that? 

I love Jumaane. I think he's a leader based on his philosophies and principles and I think that he's doing his job. I got my job. I don't dislike Jumaane. I wish him well and I wish him to continue to be the advocate that he's for. I'm advocating for the working class people of this city and I'm using the powers within me and if courts or I'm overruled or my vetoes overturned, those are the powers. People got the powers and I'm going to respect the powers of the city. This is a great city, a great country and their principles put in place that no one has the overwhelming rule of law here. 

I'm doing what's right for the safety of the people of the city. I've never been unclear about public safety for people in the city and it doesn't matter to me if they're arrested or they're locked up. I'm focused on people should be safe in the city and I've said that from the beginning. He has his belief and that's fine. 

We sat down with the Council. We've negotiated this and as I stated, we've had a round of negotiations on the parts of the bill that the special monitor states is problematic and I'm not quite sure if any of you ever interviewed the special monitor. Can y'all just ask them? Wouldn't that make a lot of sense? Isn't that logical to go to the special monitor and say do you believe this is dangerous or not? I don't think I've read one quote on this from the special monitor. 

Now you may have and I could have missed it because I got to do a lot of reading every day but did anyone ask the person… In all the time that I've been in office, people told me one thing, listen to the special monitor. The special monitor is saying this is dangerous. So we listened to the special monitor when we agree with the special monitor and we listen to the special monitor when it's across the board. I'm listening to the special monitor.