Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday said he’s looking to open up his own residence at Gracie Mansion to house asylum seekers as a way to incentivize private homeowners to take migrants into their homes in exchange for payment from the city.
“I was speaking with the staff to see if I could put a few families into Gracie Mansion. You know, I’m a big believer in leading from the front,” Hizzoner said during an unrelated news conference on June 6.
The mayor said he doesn’t have an issue with hosting migrants as long as it doesn’t go against any “legal protocols” in place that prevent him from using the city-owned mayoral residence at his own discretion.
He noted offering up his own home to help shelter the tens of thousands of migrants in the five boroughs is yet another case of him leading by example, just like when he tours the subways to encourage homeless individuals to move into shelter or when he slept overnight in a Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center (HERRC) earlier this year.
“I don’t have a problem if I could put a migrant family in Gracie Mansion, because I want to leave from the front, that’s the type of leader I am,” Adams said. “I’m in the subway system, talking to people who are homeless because I lead from the front. I slept in a HERRC because I lead from the front. I’m on a train, riding the subways so they can be safe, because I lead from the front. I want to eat healthy so that people can eat healthy because I leave from the front.”
“Generals don’t send the troops into battle and ask: ‘how is the war?’’” he added. “They lead the troops into battle. I’m a general that leads my troops into battle. So yes, I’m more than willing to use whatever space I have to deal with this crisis.”
The mayor’s press secretary, Fabien Levy, confirmed that his office is looking into using the historic house as a lodging for newcomers.
“We’re looking at if and how it could possibly work,” Levy said.
Levy declined to detail how many migrants Gracie could potentially accommodate or what sort of legal protocols might prevent the mayor from hosting newcomers there.
The mayor’s comments follow him on Monday floating the idea of paying everyday New York homeowners with spare rooms to take migrants into their own residences, after unveiling a new partnership to house as many as 1,000 adult male migrants in up to 50 churches. He pitched the proposal as a way to provide more migrants a place to stay, which would be less expensive than the emergency hotels where many of them are currently living, while also assisting financially strapped homeowners.
“There are residents who are suffering right now because of economic challenges. They have spare rooms. They have locales,” Adams said Monday. “It’s cheaper and it’s a good investment for us to go to a family and assist them instead of placing people in large congregate settings or in these emergency hotels. And then if you are a family member where you are bilingual, you are going to be able to help the bilingual person that’s coming here.”
Since last spring, the city has seen over 72,000 people come through its shelter system, with 46,000 still residing in shelters and emergency facilities. Over the past few weeks, Adams’ office has frantically searched for ways to house the continuing flow of hundreds of newcomers into the city each day.
The administration is using locations including school buildings and a closed prison, while seeking clearance from the federal government to use a warehouse at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
