Transcript: Mayor Adams, DCP Director Garodnick Unveil Proposal to Convert Vacant Offices to Housing Through City Action, Outline Next Step in "City of Yes" Plan

August 17, 2023

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, and today we are here to share very exciting proposals that will reinvigorate our business districts and help address our housing shortage.

Now, we all know that our city post-Covid has changed dramatically, including the fact that many New Yorkers are opting for hybrid work. And you can feel the results and impacts of this on many of our office districts. And that impact is felt not just by owners and not just by residents, but of course our local small businesses. At the same time, our housing shortage remains very acute. Now, New York, of course, is the best city in the world to live and to work. So it's no surprise that people keep flocking here, but we simply do not have enough homes for them. But sometimes one problem can help solve another. So we have empty offices, not enough homes. Why don't we turn outdated offices into apartments?

Now, one reason is the thicket of regulations built up over decades that make it impossible, impractical, unfeasible to convert commercial office space into residential space. Well, in this administration we are making sure that New York City is a City of Yes. And since day one, the mayor has promised to remove the barriers that stop New York from solving its housing shortage and creating good jobs. And so today we're announcing a set of actions that does just that. So with no further delay, I'd like to introduce the mayor of the greatest city in the world, Eric Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Thank you so much. And if this is the greatest city in the world, we have the greatest deputy mayor. Adding on to, really, one of the most significant appointments we made at the beginning of this administration is finding someone that will look at the landscape of our city and see how do we build better. Coming out of Covid we realized that throughout the years we built so much bureaucracy inside how do we build that bureaucracy prevented us from building and we needed to look towards a real leader in this area, and we were able to find that in Dan. He understood what was needed coming with his experience from the City Council and look at some of the beautiful work that was done there. One of my best locations in the city is One Vanderbilt. And he was able to navigate the complexities of how do you build without destroying the fabric and the normality of a particular area and community. And so we are really proud of the work that he has done and what he's going to continue to do.

And then finding the right partners on both sides from Councilman Bottcher to a person that I think really understands buildings so much in a smart way by President Levine and Councilman Powers, who has been a real partner on these innovative ways of moving our city forward. And so I'm really proud to be here today. And again, I want to thank the deputy mayor for bringing a vision, a 500,000 moonshot. We thought we were going to be able to really get a lot of the things done with the governor's proposal and our proposal that we worked together in Albany, that came to a stall. But we could not sit back and just lick our wounds and say woe is me. We said, why not me? And we will roll out what we can do here in the cities.

We know that New Yorkers are struggling. You hear it all the time. Every elected in this city, the number one thing they hear is housing, housing, housing. And it's just not enough of it, that's the reality of it. The demand is not meeting the need. The volume of units we have is just not reaching the population. This is an exciting place to live, to grow. We continue to get people come to this amazing city and we need to house them, and that is where we have failed.

It's not just a New York City problem. It is a problem that the entire state and country is facing. When I speak with my colleagues across the entire country, they're saying the same thing, the need of affordable housing and to build housing. And we see that rents are soaring. Families are one paycheck away from being able to pursue their American dream or find themselves in some form of shelter or in some cases living on the street, and that's something we want to avoid.

Earlier this year when we announced our 500,000 new homes over the next decade, people thought it was not possible, but we know it is. And we must create more homes in order to accomplish this task. Last year, really pleased to announce we created and preserve nearly 27,000 affordable new homes and we have committed a historic $24 billion to affordable housing over the next 10 years, the most in New York City's history, and we also included NYCHA in this plan for the first time. Today as part of our City of Yes Housing Opportunity plan, we are throwing open the door to more housing. I was briefed on this plan a few days ago and I was just amazed at how many barriers we have the potential of moving so that we can get housing done. With a proposal to rewrite zoning regulations so unused office space can become homes for New Yorkers, it's unbelievable how much empty office space we have sitting idly by with ready and willing participants to develop the housing, and we are in the way. Well, it's time to get out of the way so we can turn these office cubicles into nice living quarters so that we can address the housing crisis we have.

At the same time, these office conversions will help us reimagine and revitalize our business districts. We see it all the time, I saw it during 9/11, what we did in Lower Manhattan. It went to a 24-hour community, stores open, restaurants open, schools started to be redefined and it became an exciting place to live, shop, grow, and play. We know these communities and these areas, particularly retail, are struggling. And this is in an opportunity to reinvigorate these communities. Now with new regulation, an additional 136 million square feet of office space will be eligible for conversion. Just think about that number. 136 million square feet of office space. This is roughly the size of the entire city of Philadelphia. That's how much real estate we're talking. It will allow us to create 20,000 new homes, enough to house 40,000 New Yorkers.

When we put out a voucher for affordable housing and communities, sometimes you only have 48 units and you will get thousands of people attempting to get inside those units. That's how hard the demand is. This is what 40,000 more people will have a secure place to live and call home. 40,000 New Yorkers will begin to build on the American dream, including right here at 95 Madison. We want to just thank all the partners here for understanding the opportunity to address our housing crisis. A win-win relationship.

The new regulation will also allow a wider variety of housing types to be created, like supportive housing, dorms, and shared housing. I want to be clear, we will do everything we can to continue to get Albany to move forward, it would help us expedite a building so that we can meet our 500,000 moonshot. But at the same time we're going to do our job. We're going to call on the state to create a tax incentive for affordable housing and office conversion. We outlined a very specific proposal in January. We visited an active office conversion project in March, and we advocated throughout the legislative session for the state to give us the tools we need through legislation. We did not reach that goal, but we're going to return to Albany during this legislative cycle and state that housing is the number one concern. So we cannot leave Albany without accomplishing that task. But in the meantime, we have to move forward. We cannot sit back and wait. We have to execute. We don't have the three letters of GSD for nothing. We are going to get stuff done here.

We're also creating an office conversion accelerator and an inter-agency group that will work with property owners to help speed up conversion so that we can increase our supply of homes more quickly. In addition, we are building on promises made in this year's State of the City by launching the Midtown South mixed use neighborhood plan. This will set up the path to create a mixed use neighborhood south of 40th Street so that we can really reinvigorate that community. More jobs and new homes, including permanently affordable homes. In central Manhattan where new housing is currently not allowed because of outdated zoning, our office conversion and reimagining Midtown South increase our housing supply and they help our economy to flourish by revitalizing our business districts, which are our city's economic engine. In fact, it is the state's economic engine. If it stalls, the economy in this state will stall and we are the economic engine for this country as well.

So all three of these initiatives, office conversion, the accelerator and Midtown South are the results of looking at the big picture, something that historically we were not doing. We are all in this together. Housing New York is a five borough plan and is a plan that we can do together. They are the results of accepting our new reality, Covid taught us something. If we want to acknowledge it or not, we are in a different norm. Everything has changed and we have to be willing to change with it and that's including our zoning. We can't look back and govern the city the way things were, we must govern the city the way they are and it's possible to do so. Moving into the future, unafraid, bold visionaries and make sure that we can accomplish the task of housing as we look at the redevelopment of our communities.

I really want to thank the team that's here and other parts of government, the Council members, the speaker, the borough presidents across the boroughs. Also Donovan Richards in Queens has been a real partner, Vanessa Gibson in the Bronx, Staten Island borough president. Everyone has come together to state, let's start housing New Yorkers. But we cannot do this without business partners. This administration prides itself on its relationship it has developed from day one with the business community. They stated, let us do our part, get us in the game. They don't want to be in the stands watching this real contact sport called housing being developed. They have been so engaged in this, coming with real ideas, real visionary, using their business acumen to assist us in this real crisis of housing. And I want to say thank you to our business community for doing this. Thank you to our partners and Dan Garodnick, who's really the visionary behind this initiative. Job well done. Let's get stuff built. I say it over and over again. Build, baby, build.

Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Thank you, Mayor Adams. I just wanted to add a few details to each of the three major actions that the mayor mentioned, focusing on timing and some next steps.
So for the first action that was mentioned, the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, as the mayor said, this set of actions will be the most dramatic and most impactful reforms to boost housing supply that really the city has ever seen. The public engagement for the City of Yes for housing opportunity will begin this fall. It will include the regulatory changes that we are talking about today, that as the mayor mentioned, we unfortunately did not get in Albany. But we are taking matters into our own hands so that we can provide the type of housing for the under housed and unhoused in this city.

That City of Yes for Housing Opportunity citywide text amendment will be going into the formal public review process in 2024. On the second initiative that the mayor mentioned related to the Midtown South Plan, that, too, public engagement will start this fall and then it will enter the public approval process next year. And finally, on the accelerator program, that is live today. And so the Office Conversion Accelerator Program, it will be led by an inter-agency group, but also in particular Rob Holbrooke, who might have the best title in the entire city apparatus. He's the executive director of Get Stuff Built and he can be reached and this program can be accessed if you go to www.nyc.gov/officeconversions. So as the mayor mentioned, what is particularly important about this moment is that we all share a collective goal of boosting housing supply. And so for each of these actions and so many others that we're advancing, we are not doing this alone.

There's, of course, the city team, Dan Garodnick from the City Planning Commission, Sarah Carroll, the chair of the Landmarks Preservation Commission. We have representatives here as well from the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, as well as BJ Jones, who's our new executive director for the New New York panel. But it's also outside of the administration, because this has to be a true partnership. So in that vein, I am very happy to introduce our next speaker who has been a real friend and champion on housing and affordable housing, not just in this borough but citywide. So please join me in welcoming borough president of Manhattan, Mark Levine.

Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine: Executive director of Get Stuff Built. I want that title. I might just add it to my business card. Mr. Mayor, I know you are totally committed to addressing the housing affordability crisis in New York. I know you've got the full force of your administration behind this. Thank you so much. You have great leaders in Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer and my good friend, Commissioner Garodnick. And everyone should know we have a united front in city government, the mayor's office, my own office, the borough president, and incredible leaders in the City Council, like Council Members Bottcher and Powers. And we even have allies at the state like Assembly Member Tony Simone, who is really fighting the good fight up there.

Manhattan is booming as a whole. The borough of Manhattan is booming. You see it if you try to get a table at a hot restaurant, you see it if you have to jostle with the crowds in Times Square, you see it if you go for a jog in Central Park. The crowds are everywhere. But we have to admit that Midtown in particular as a neighborhood is still facing some real challenges, in part because there are so many buildings here that are partially or even entirely vacant. In some cases it's buildings that are zoned for manufacturing. Yes, there are still parts of Manhattan that are zoned for manufacturing, incredibly. Buildings in the garment district on the whole have 2 percent of their space being used for active garment manufacturing, and so much of that other space is vacant.

And there's also buildings that are zoned for office space, that because of work from home, and as the mayor said, the trend toward hybrid work, they're not filling up. And actually this one here, 95 Madison, is a real powerful example of that. I understand it's almost entirely vacant right now, close to 95 percent  vacant. And I was speaking to the Sklar family, which owns the building. They want to convert this to housing. This should be housing. This is a prime location. It's got good bones. This would be an amazing location to convert for housing. They cannot do that right now until we change the laws to allow that.

And what the mayor's announcing today sets that in motion. That is huge. We need buildings like this all over Midtown to be converted to housing, ultimately to provide homes for tens of thousands of New Yorkers. It's going to take some work, it's going to take changing the regulations, it's going to take in some cases rezoning. But what you have here is a united front of leaders at all levels who are committed to do that work so that we can turn Midtown into a vibrant 24-hour community, a live work community that will set a new path for the 21st century. Thank you very much.

Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Thank you. Thank you so much, borough president. And now I'd like to invite Council Member Keith Powers to share some remarks.

City Council Member Keith Powers: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for the team. I just want to start by putting a finer point on what the mayor started with, which is that, and his deputy mayor and his commissioner of city planning is two of the best, who I think are two of the best people to be in the place to help us guide through this very complicated process of doing conversions, but also how do we get to the housing goals that we need in New York City.

And I think I speak on many of the Council members' behalf that we are fully confident and fully appreciative of all the work that you guys are doing and always here to be supportive of that. Look, if you've been opening up the newspaper and you've seen it recently, any New Yorkers paying attention can see the rents are skyrocketing. And right here in Manhattan where my district is, they are at the highest they've ever been and they're amongst the highest in the entire city. And that's good news in some ways, which just means, as the borough president mentioned, people want to be here, people want to live here. This is still the city of opportunity. This is a city of diversity. This is a city that is the economic engine for this region and for this country.

And people want to be here. They deserve to be here. They deserve to bring their talents and their diversity and their opportunities here. They shouldn't be relegated to other cities, other parts of this region because we simply have failed as a government to provide this kind of housing that they deserve. We are out here with an opportunity today that I think many New Yorkers have been talking about since the Covid crisis, which is, what are we going to do with those buildings that are emptying out or being underutilized? So that's why today is a very exciting piece of news for New Yorkers, which is that that thing they've been talking about for a very long time is starting to come true. And without question, we need Albany's support here. And I know Assembly Member Simone has single-handedly told us he's going to do everything to get it done. That's a big confidence booster for you, my friend.

But we know we have state partners like him that are going to help out. We need their assistance in this. But this is good news today because we're doing what's within our power to make sure we can accelerate housing production at a time where we desperately need it. And myself and Council Member Bottcher and Borough President Levine have stood here and stood with the mayor when he's made announcements around our district because we know that you can't talk about housing and not talk about your own district and where to go. And that's far, unfortunately, that is the reality too much in this city and this state. So we're putting our money where our mouths are, and that's making sure that our districts are part of that equation, unlocking housing that is available here. And the one thing I want to stress is this is not a mandate. We're not kicking people out or anything like that. This is an opportunity. An opportunity for buildings that are underutilized, an opportunity for places that have a need to change their use. We're giving them that helping hand to do that, and we're offering them much less bureaucracy in a way when they make a decision that's good for the city and good for them as well. And this is a really important moment in that conversation.
And I will stress one last thing, which is that we have to keep going. That production goal the mayor is laid out doesn't become a reality if we don't stand up here and keep making announcements and keep building housing, accelerate the processes in the city to make sure it happens. We as a city are facing a crisis and we can help anybody who wants to be here if we find the political will to do it. This is a really important one, but I'm just going to stand here and say again, as a council member and with my colleagues, I hope we will continue to build housing and unlock housing in any parts of the city that deserves it. So thank you.

Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Thank you, Council member Powers for being such an amazing partner. And likewise, I would like to introduce another important partner who makes sure that his actions match his words. Our Council member, Erik Bottcher.

City Council Member Erik Bottcher: Thank you very much. We are here today to address a crisis that is threatening the future of New York City. And the reason I say that is because for hundreds of years, New York was a place where people could come from anywhere in the world and make it, and make something of themselves. It was never easy, but it was a city, and it still is a city where young people can come from anywhere and live out their dreams.

And that is what happened with me when I moved here when I was 21 years old. I had no job lined up. I didn't even have an apartment lined up. I found a futon in Hell's Kitchen, someone's living room, $450 a month. And I just knew that I would figure it out and I knew I wanted to be here. If we lose that, we're losing a piece of ourselves and New York is no longer the city that we know. And the primary reason why it's happening is because the demand for housing has so far outstripped the supply.

Meanwhile, we've got entire office buildings sitting virtually empty. And around the country, commercial office space has been converting into housing. But here in New York since the pandemic, it's barely happened at all. That is a public policy failure. So what you're seeing today with the leadership from our mayor and his team is a plan to turn this around. What we also have is entire neighborhoods that are zoned exclusively for commercial and light manufacturing with no housing at all. In the middle of Manhattan and around the world, we've seen that the most vibrant neighborhoods are live, work. Residential, commercial, light manufacturing, 24/7 neighborhoods that are alive at all hours of the day.

That's why I support taking a look at these parts of Midtown in my district, Council Member Powers' district, that do not allow housing. Because we have the potential to create thousands of units of housing, affordable housing right here in Manhattan. The question isn't, what should we do? We know what we have to do. The question is, are we going to have the political courage to do it? Something that's in very short supply in politics right now because of the toxic environment out there. So what you're seeing up here from my colleagues is courage. I'm asking all my colleagues on the City Council to be with us, everyone in the community to be with us and do what we need to do to save New York City. Thank you very much.

Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Thank you so much, council member. Finally, I'd like to invite Woody Heller to share a few words. He represents the owners of this building, 95 Madison, and they are of course, looking to convert this property from commercial to residential. Woody.

Woody Heller, Founding Partner, Branton Realty: Thank you, Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer. I'm Woody Heller of Branton Realty and I represent the owners of 95 Madison, this beautiful landmark building, which is considered to be one of New York's finest candidates for residential conversion. It's great to be here and to host so many of our city's leaders. Thank you all for your leadership in today's announcements.

We're here in Midtown South where we have access to so many great amenities, amazing transportation, jobs, restaurants, and of course other buildings like this. But as we all know, work and commuting patterns are changing and these buildings could be put to higher and better uses, such as housing rather than as unused office space, like the area surrounding us. And I'd like to extend a personal apology for the temperature today to the mayor, deputy mayor, and others and welcome you to the pleasures of vacant unbuilt office space without air conditioning.

Not surprisingly, I've received overwhelming interest from private sector developers to convert this building, which demonstrates both the market's appetite for office to residential conversion and the financial support of the debt and equity capital markets to provide financing. Today's announcement from Mayor Adams and his administration is a great step in the right direction to get us the assistance needed and to clear any regulatory roadblocks so that this building and others like it can become much needed housing for New Yorkers.

Cities can't grow without change and change can't happen without these programs. Further, I hope our representatives in Albany will support these efforts with State action, like a tax incentive program so that we can also create affordable housing. Finally, on behalf of myself, Branton Realty, and the owners of 95 Madison Avenue, we thank you all for coming and for your leadership to turn this space into housing. I hope we can continue to work with other property owners across the city to help create the housing that New York's New Yorkers so desperately need. Thank you.

Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Actually, we couldn't end this program without hearing from a great partner up in Albany. Assembly Member Tony Simone. Albany has been mentioned a few times and so we appreciate his leadership, not just in being here today, but for all of his efforts in ensuring we're doing everything that we can on housing. Assembly Member.

State Assembly Member Tony Simone: I want to first thank the mayor and the borough president and this City Council and the deputy mayor for being leaders on this. No one likes change. Decades ago, my family was priced out of this city because they could not afford to live here. And now the reason why I ran is so many people in my community said, "I was born and raised on the west side and I have to leave." I go, "Where are you going? Queens?" "No, I have to go to Jersey or further out to a state in the south I will not mention." And in the end, we're going to make not just the City of Yes, but the State of Yes.

Don't listen to the naysayers. Don't listen to the fearmongers on change. We need to house every New Yorker. I'm sick of walking my dog every morning and seeing folks sleeping on the street of the greatest richest city in the world. That has to end. We need to build supportive housing and middle income housing. When I grew up in Queens with my family, there were firefighters on my block and bankers. That is the New York we love. That is the reason why people still come here.

And lastly, I just want to say there's so many negative folks out there who say, "Everyone's leaving New York, everyone's going somewhere else." Most come back because they're bored of wherever they went to save on, they say taxes, but the problem is housing. Housing, we're going to build, build, build. If it's the last thing I do in office, we're going to build housing for every New Yorker.

Mayor Adams: I can actually, right by that window, see a couch, a sofa right there, a little kitchen over there in the back. Why don't we open up a few on-topic before we do some off-topic?

Question: Hi.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: Good. My question is, we have to change the tax amendment. If you get that, you can start these conversions. How long do they actually take? And obviously it's a significant amount of funding to change it from an office to housing. Where's that funding going to come from? You get all this acceptance [inaudible].

Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: That's right. So the reality right now is that there's a patchwork of regulations to convert commercial to residential. To make that easier, the actions that we're announcing today put us on a stronger path. For example, we asked Albany to change the regulations to make it easier because that patchwork basically means that if you're built after a certain date, if you're in a particular part of the city, you cannot avail yourself as streamlined regulations.

So this citywide text amendment, which will begin public engagement this fall, and we'll go through the public approval process. We are taking matters into our own hands and doing that ourselves and with the partnership of the Council members who are here, we are really encouraged and hopeful that that is going to get through the public approval process quickly. Second, there are buildings, however, that are able to convert today because somehow they are part that they don't have regulations that are barriers to them.

But it is a daunting and complicated process. So the third action that we announced today, the Conversion Accelerator Program will basically serve as a concierge service. So a building like this, for example, it can actually convert today, but we want to make it faster. We want to make it faster because a building like this has to go through the Landmarks Preservation Commission because it's a landmark, it needs permits from DOB, it needs permits from the Fire Department.

Some of the buildings need sewer lines, so that's DEP. Those are many, many agencies and it often takes way too long. So the goal for the Accelerator Program is to get through that entire permitting process in about six months because every day that we delay the conversion of a building into housing is another day that we don't make as much of a dent in our housing crisis as we need to.

Question: As part of the city's tuition conversions, will there be any requirement for affordable housing? And if so, what levels?

Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: That's right. So two things. One, the Midtown South rezoning, of course, MIH will be mapped into that rezoning. So we will have affordable housing there. For the Conversion Program, what we need is that tax incentive from Albany. That is the type of incentive that will ensure not just that buildings like this are feasible to convert, but that we get the affordable housing in those buildings. We believe that's the prudent way to do it, so that it is a workable solution, a feasible one, and makes sense for building owners across the city. Because if we take different routes, then many of these office buildings are likely not to take advantage of the program and will sit vacant.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: So this is in regard to the governor's slamming of your handling of the migrant crisis. She said you were too slow to respond and refused the state suggested sites that were suggested. Do you think your response was too slow?

Mayor Adams: Well, first of all, I don't think the governor slammed us. I think the governor did her analysis on probably four areas that really, I think they just need clarity on. And particularly those sites. We analyze each site. We actually went to 3,000 different sites to see where we could house migrants. The sites that were given to us, some of them were in floodplains, some of them were not suitable to build. And so we analyzed each site.

We did not ignore any of the sites as part of our 3,000 sites that we looked at to house over a hundred thousand people. And so we are going to go through the list with the governor's team and show her and her team why the sites they gave us were not suitable to housing migrants. Because the worst thing you could do is house migrant in a floodplain area and all of a sudden you have an emergency where you have to move people out of that location.

But we're going to go through the list with her and show why we could not build or we could not have used those areas for asylum seekers. And then there was an analysis of the invoicing. Many people don't understand, we're not getting dollar for dollar for every invoice we give the State. We're getting 29% per dollar. So the entire billion dollars that was allocated, we won't get that until we spend over $4 billion. We haven't spent over $4 billion. We spent something like $1.7 billion.

So every time we give an invoice, they do look at the invoice and give us 29 percent of that. So there was no way we can draw down on a whole billion dollars because we haven't spent over $4 billion yet. And so when you look at the points that the governor raised, we want to sit down with her team and give them a real accounting so we can continue the partnership that we've done. Listen, we've been working great together and we're going to continue to do that. And her analysis is...

Mayor Adams: Listen, we've been working great together and we're going to continue to do that. And her analysis is important, but we know we have a clear explanation for each one of those points that were raised. I'm happy to see the state is engaged. This is a national crisis. This administration has done an awesome job like no other municipality has been able to accomplish. Over 101,000 people, no child, no family sleeping on the streets, and we're going to continue to do what we're doing.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: I had a question about right to shelter. Governor Hochul said she doesn't think that right applies statewide. We wrote about how Attorney General Letitia James disagrees with that. What is your position, and do you think the governor and local leaders elsewhere in the state have the same obligations to shelter people that you do in New York City?

Mayor Adams: Well, the courts are going to determine that. Legal Aid has taken action. Our corporation counsel is in court with Legal Aid, the state, and the city, and they're going to make that determination. And I believe the obligation of dealing with the humanitarian crisis of this proportion, something we've never witnessed before in the history of this city, I think it's up to the courts to make the final determination. And I was looking over the history of immigration and migration to our city, and back during the time, there was one year when we had 1.3 million people that came through Ellis Island, and we were able to absorb all of them, those 1.3 million. The reason we were able to absorb them is because each one that came through had the right to work. The reason we are having a challenge right now with 101,000 people, because we're telling them they don't have the right to work.

And I don't know if we really understand the magnitude of telling this large population of people, "You do not have the authorization to work." That is just so anti-American. We all should be outraged by not allowing human beings to be able to take care of themselves, what they're asking for. And so I think this is a national and statewide issue that has been unjustly dropped into the lap of New York City residents. We only make up 0.05 of the landmass in New York State. 0.05. That's what we make up. Yet we are housing over 99 percent of the migrants. That's just unfair to New York City.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Just to go back to the previous question, what [inaudible]?

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. I'm hearing the nice sounds of jackhammers. That means we're building.

Question: [Inaudible] state, specifically you referenced the decision by the city to allow migrants to sleep outside the Roosevelt Hotel. [Inaudible] were no shelters, but was it deliberate to [inaudible]?

Mayor Adams: Okay, I think I heard you. And first I want to do a correction, thanks a lot, Charles. We have to spend $3.4 billion to draw down on the $1 billion that the governor and the state lawmakers put in place. What people don't understand, people did an analysis of, well, you had beds that were vacant. That's a little dishonest in what people looked at. Laws require us to have a certain number of beds open for a particular population of domestic violence and others. We have to have a certain level of beds that are open in our homeless system. So when people stated, "Well, you should have just filled those beds up and just ignored what the requirements are," that was wrong. So any given time, our homeless system, there's a number of beds that we have to leave open in case of emergencies.

And that's what the commissioner was attempting to share, and the information is right there. So we're not going to violate the law. We're going to follow the law. I'm very clear on that. And there was never a desire to have anyone sleep outside. The dam burst. I don't know how to get it clear. For a year and eight months no one was sleeping on our streets. I stood up at this podium day after day stating that eventually the dam is going to burst. We had 101,000 people coming in our city, averaging anywhere from 2,400 to 2,900 a week, 10,000 a month. We didn't think the dam was going to burst eventually? And so when people do an analysis and say for two days people slept outside of the Roosevelt, I'm asking them to go to other cities. In other cities people are sleeping in police stations, people are sleeping on the streets around churches. Children are sleeping outside.

We were able to accomplish when no other municipality was able to accomplish, process and handle over 100,000 people. And I just think it's wrong and it's an attack on those city employees who dedicated their lives doing countless number of hours. And to say that, "Well, people slept out two days, did you all intentionally do it?" That's just insulting to these hardworking New Yorkers. And that is not what we did. The dam burst. And when dams burst, the water flow. And the water in this case were human beings that had to sleep outside the Roosevelt Hotel.

Question: Mr. Mayor, [inaudible] TikTok off their electronic devices.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: First question, did you do so? And also, why was it done?

Mayor Adams: I'm sorry, did I do…

Question: Did you remove TikTok from your electronic device as you ordered the city employees to remove TikTok? And why was this important?

Mayor Adams: Well, the mandate came down from me through our chief technology officer, and that includes me. I'm not above the rules and regulations that all city owned devices cannot use TikTok. We are in the process of meeting with the TikTok executives to engage in a conversation. It was a cybersecurity risk for us. And although we have been free for the most part of getting cybersecurity attacks, it is a constant threat. It's a constant threat and much of that threat is coming from outside the country of trying to infiltrate our systems and really impact our data, and we need to protect New Yorkers' data. And the cybersecurity leader, Matt Frasier, stated that this is an issue we must resolve. The federal government made a move, we are complying with that. We are hoping TikTok can find a way to really secure and safeguard the users. And right now we didn't feel comfortable in doing that, and I trust my chief technology officer, this was the recommendation he made.

Question: The city has recently said that it needs a statewide order to stop localities from blocking migrant relocation. Do you think Governor Hochul is going to act?

Mayor Adams: Could…

Question: Is going to act?

Mayor Adams: I'm hoping so, because it's really tying up a lot of time that we are going into individual court cases where everyone is finding creative ways to not be the state and country that we are. And stating that no matter where we send the migrant and asylum seekers, we were picking up the cost. We were picking up the cost to do so. And to constantly go to court and find creative ways in local municipalities to say that they're not going to take migrants, I think it's unfortunate and we're hoping that the governor will put in place an executive order that will prevent us from having to go from location to location to location. New York just cannot continue to take this flow. And all I can say is I'm hoping people can imagine what it's like to every week come up with housing from 25 to almost 3,000 people, finding new places, sporting fields, recreational centers, hotels.
That is just not how you manage your city and that's not how you are able to move this forward. Now, we've been able to get over 2,200 people through the asylum process, which each individual takes about four hours. We built out an amazing system with pro bono attorneys. Our corporations and law firms have joined us. I cannot thank them enough. But the flow is not sustainable. And so we are hoping that that executive order takes place that can stop what we're seeing in some of our municipalities in the northern part of the state. Let me get this last question.

Question: Yes. My question, you mentioned migrants going to other localities. In that same letter the governor mentioned that there aren't that many eligible households and the ones that you've presented to them haven't been that many. Is it that you think that when you are talking to these migrants, your team is not doing a good job of letting them understand what the resettlement program looks like? That they'll still get the same services that they have here in the city, that there is transportation. Do you think there's an issue with the communication when your team is talking to migrants about going to other…

Mayor Adams: Now, when you said that there's not enough eligible households that want to leave to go?

Question: Right.

Mayor Adams: Oh, okay. Well, no, I think the communication is clear. People just are reluctant to leave New York City, and that's part of the challenge. People believed… And when I speak with some of the migrants in their home countries they are told that this is the city to be in. And then we have those at the 
border, particularly the Customs and Border Patrol are sending people here. And so it's a combination. 

We're doing an amazing job. Remember, over 101,000 came into the city, 57,000 are still in our care. So if you do the math, you see 43,000, a little over 43,000 we were able to show other ways, going to other municipalities, finding family and loved ones. So we've done a job, and that's what must be really acknowledged here.

101,000 came in, 57,000 remaining, over 43,000 we've been able to help transition somewhere in the fabric of the country or in the city, 43,000. So we're doing that job. But here's the problem. As soon as we have the 43,000 that are transitioning out, we're getting another 10,000 a month coming in. So we'll never catch up. So if we were only dealing with 101,000 and then we had to handle 101,000, we already got 43,000 out, we could work on the other 57,000, then you can say, "Okay, we'll reach a point where we see the light at the end of the tunnel." We're not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel because we have the constant flow that's coming in. No one is helping us on the bordering states. We're not getting the answers we need from the federal government. And we are constantly playing catch-up on those who are coming in. 

And a large number of them are children with families. So you could treat single adults differently than children and families. We've been very clear we can't have children and families sleeping on the streets, and we have to make sure the children are absorbed into our educational system. We're seeing a larger number of children and families that are coming in, and this is one of the major crises that we are facing in this problem. Okay, thank you.

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