As Mayor Eric Adams continues to warn that the city is “out of room” for housing new migrants, he said Wednesday the “way forward” for handling the influx is to turn to faith-based institutions to manage it.
Hizzoner made the remarks during an interview with Bishop Dr. Kittim Silva and Bishop Ismael Claudio on the Spanish-language Christian radio show Radio Vision Cristiana.
“I believe the way forward is to turn this over to the church, to give the church the money they need,” Adams said. “We would get a better return on our tax dollars if the church and other faith institutions were doing this … And we want government to get out of the way and let faith institutions handle this problem.”
The mayor, who often speaks about his own Christian faith, said the idea of having religious institutions take a broader role in managing the influx came from his recent trip to Latin American countries including Mexico, Ecuador and Colombia. He said in those nations, faith groups are “handling the problem for the most part.”
Adams made the statements after he sounded the alarm Tuesday, claiming the city is unable to house any additional migrants. There are currently north of 65,000 migrants living in city shelters, with over 4,000 more newcomers arriving here each week, according to the latest figures from City Hall.
Houses of worship, the mayor said, could eventually provide the very spaces the administration desperately needs for sheltering new arrivals and they would be significantly less expensive than renting out hotels, which currently account for well over 100 of the city’s migrant shelters.
“If you have a large parking lot and you’re willing to put up a tent, we could pay you for the space,” the mayor said. “If you have a fellowship hall that you want to temporarily use as a dormitory, we could pay you for the space.”
But, he said, outdated zoning rules currently bar the city from utilizing those spaces, a problem the administration is attempting to rectify with the “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity” zoning text amendment it recently introduced.
There are, however, other “ancillary” ways faith institutions could pitch in to help migrants right now, the mayor said, including offering food services and clean clothing and sheets. He said he would rather the city contract with houses of worship for those services than pay private companies.
Wednesday was hardly the first time Adams has pushed for religious groups to play a bigger part in responding to the migrant influx. In June, he announced a partnership with New York Disaster Interfaith Services (NYDIS), a faith-based nonprofit, to enlist up to 50 houses of worship to offer overnight shelter for up to 19 adult male migrants.
But during a Monday City Council hearing on the costs incurred by the migrant crisis, Council Member Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan) asked Adams administration officials why only two houses of worship are participating in the program after it has been up and running for five months.
“Two so far out of the 50?” Brewer said, at the time. “Not a good number.”
George Sarkessian, a city Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) deputy commissioner, responded that the facilities are not coming online as quickly as anticipated due to a host of inspections that must be conducted by the Fire Department and Department of Buildings (DOB) in order to deem the structures safe.
“As I know, you know, there are difficulties getting them safe and prepared,” Sarkessian said. “We’re working with FDNY and DOB to do it safely.”
