Better Coney Island, Hear From The Mayor, Key To The City Fmr. Congressman, Universal After-School, Got Stuff Done, Companion Animal Housing Equity: Mayor Adams

Better Coney Island, Hear From The Mayor, Key To The City Fmr. Congressman, Universal After-School, Got Stuff Done, Companion Animal Housing Equity: Mayor Adams

 

Editor’s note: For many unhoused individuals, their companion animal may be the only family they have left, and is often their only connection to the life they left behind when they became homeless. This can make it more challenging for them to find housing due to their need for shelter for two, where many places, including shelters, don’t allow animals. Issues arise if these individuals did want to part with them, as the city run shelters are not no-kill shelters, making it likely that giving up their best friend is actually a death sentence.   These new policies may make it easier for those living on the streets with a dog or cat to find permanent housing and start a new life with their only steadfast friend. 

NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Eric Adams, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks) Commissioner Iris Rodriguez-Rosa, and New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) President and CEO Andrew Kimble today announced that New York City has committed more than $1 billion to a major reconstruction of the Coney Island shoreline, fulfilling Mayor Adams’ vision laid out earlier this year in his 2025 State of the City Address. This vision includes reconstruction of the historic Riegelmann Boardwalk; 1,500 new homes, including 25 percent of units allocated for affordable housing; and new investments in streets, sewers, and public realm improvements, including a $42 million renovation of the Abe Stark Sports Center.

 

 

 

“Coney Island is home to thousands of hard-working New Yorkers who work hard every day to leave behind something better for their families. Life here shouldn’t be a rollercoaster, which is why our administration is committing $1 billion to rejuvenate America’s playground and build a better Coney Island,” said Mayor Adams. “With this investment, we are going to deliver 1,500 new mixed income homes to the waterfront — 25 percent of which will be affordable — and restore the over 100-year-old Riegelmann Boardwalk to its former glory. We’re building new streets and sewers, improving the public realm, and renovating the Abe Stark Sports Center so this beloved rink and recreation hub can continue bringing joy to New Yorkers and visitors alike. To be the best city on the globe to live and raise a family, you need affordable homes and public spaces, and that’s why today’s announcement is a transformative next step in building the neighborhoods of tomorrow — today.”

 

 

 

“Coney Island is a New York icon that gives millions of New Yorkers and visitors a welcoming, vibrant space to enjoy the waves, fresh air, and world-famous attractions. With this major investment in the boardwalk’s resiliency, we’re preparing the boardwalk to safely welcome visitors for another 100 years,” said NYC Parks Commissioner Rodriguez-Rosa. “As climate change continues to cause more extreme weather events and rising sea levels, we’re investing in our public spaces across the city to ensure resiliency while enhancing what New Yorkers love about them. By reconstructing the entire historic boardwalk and renovating the beloved Abe Stark Sports Center, we’re also making Coney Island a safer and more welcoming place for families and New Yorkers of all ages. I’m grateful to our partners across the Adams administration and in the community for their commitment to this project, and I’m proud to be part of an administration that appreciates how critical our public greenspaces are as living infrastructure.”

 

 

 

“Today’s $1 billion commitment to rebuild the historic Riegelmann Boardwalk is exactly the kind of investment Coney Island deserves — making the boardwalk safer, more accessible, and more resilient for generations to come,” said New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) President and CEO Andrew Kimball. “This builds on NYCEDC’s broader work across Coney Island: advancing new housing, modernizing streets and sewers, and delivering public‑realm upgrades, including the renovation of the Abe Stark Sports Center. We’re proud to partner with our NYC Parks and city colleagues to strengthen this beloved neighborhood, support local small businesses, and keep Coney Island a place where New Yorkers come together year‑round.”

 

 

 

Reimagining the Iconic Coney Island Boardwalk

 

The boardwalk restoration project will upgrade all 2.7 miles of Riegelmann Boardwalk across several phases of work, maximizing access to this public amenity while making vital improvements. NYC Parks will partner with the New York City Economic Development Corporation to implement the project and will conduct extensive public outreach during the design and construction stages. NYC Parks conducted an extensive study to reconfiguring the boardwalk to address future climate change needs while preserving the landmark’s character and maintaining direct access to the adjacent businesses and attractions. In addition to upgrading the resiliency and accessibility of the boardwalk itself, this project will include improvements to the boardwalk’s public facilities, including restrooms, lifeguard stations, and shade pavilions.

 

 

 

Redeveloping the Abe Stark Sports Center

 

The city is also reconstructing the Abe Stark Sports Center, a local hub for recreation with a beloved ice-skating rink that opened in 1970, through a separate $42 million project. The renovation will upgrade the ice-skating facilities and create a new entrance and signage on the boardwalk, better linking the center with the community.

 

 

 

Delivering More Affordable Housing

 

Today’s announcement follows Mayor Adams’ commitment to reinvigorate Coney Island and its commitment to build affordable housing. The Adams administration previously announced the selection of a developer to build housing in Coney Island West. This project will convert an 80,000-square-foot city-owned surface public parking lot into over 500 units of mixed-income housing, 25 percent of which will be affordable. Additionally, the development will provide ground-floor retail space and will replace existing public surface parking with new public structured parking. This project — in combination with other peninsula-wide flood resiliency measures — will help protect Coney Island from future flood risk.

 

 

 

The Adams administration also supports Intro. 1427 to establish a Business Improvement District (BID) in Coney Island and bring together businesses, community leaders, and other New Yorkers around a safer, cleaner, more vibrant neighborhood.

 

 

 

Since entering office, Mayor Adams has made historic investments to create more affordable housing and ensure more New Yorkers have a place to call home. Earlier this year, Mayor Adams announced that his administration has created, preserved, or planned approximately 426,800 homes for New Yorkers through its work through the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2025. Mayor Adams also announced that, in FY 2025, the Adams administration created the most affordable rental units in city history and celebrated back-to-back-to-back record-breaking years for producing permanently-affordable homes for formerly-homeless New Yorkers, placing homeless New Yorkers into housing, and connecting New Yorkers to housing through the city’s housing lottery. Thanks to the Adams administration’s recently-unveiled Jewel Streets Neighborhood Plan and additional New York City Housing Authority Permanent Affordability Commitment Together closings in July, the Adams administration has now created, preserved, or planned over 433,250 homes to date.

 

 

 

In addition to creating and preserving record amounts of affordable and market-rate housing for New Yorkers, the Adams administration has also passed ambitious plans that will create tens of thousands of new homes as well. Last December, Mayor Adams celebrated the passage of “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity,” the most pro-housing proposal in city history that will build 80,000 new homes over 15 years and invest $5 billion in critical infrastructure updates and housing.

 

 

 

The Adams administration is also advancing several robust neighborhood plans that, if adopted, would deliver nearly 50,000 homes over the next 15 years to New York neighborhoods. In addition to the Bronx-Metro North Station Area Plan, the Midtown South plan, and the Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan, and the Jamaica Neighborhood Plan — all of which have already been passed by the New York City Council — the Adams administration is also advancing plans in Long Island City in Queens.

 

 

 

Building on the success of City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, Mayor Adams unveiled his “City of Yes for Families” strategy earlier this year in his State of the City address to build more homes and create more family-friendly neighborhoods across New York City. Under City of Yes for Families, the Adams administration is advancing more housing on city-owned sites, creating new tools to support homeownership, and building more housing alongside schools, playgrounds, grocery stores, accessible transit stations, and libraries.

 

 

 

Further, the Adams administration is actively working to strengthen tenant protections and support homeowners. The “Partners in Preservation” program was expanded citywide in 2024 through a $24 million investment in local organizations to support tenant organizing and combat harassment in rent-regulated housing. The Homeowner Help Desk, a trusted one-stop shop for low-income homeowners to receive financial and legal counseling from local organizations, was also expanded citywide in 2024 with a $13 million funding commitment.

 

 

 

Finally, Mayor Adams and members of his administration successfully advocated for new tools in the 2024 New York State budget that are already helping spur the creation of urgently needed housing. These tools include a new tax incentive for multifamily rental construction, a tax incentive program to encourage office conversions to create more affordable units, lifting the arbitrary “floor-to-area ratio” cap that held back affordable housing production in certain high-demand areas of the city, and the ability to create a pilot program to legalize and make safe basement apartments.

 

TRANSCRIPT: MAYOR ADAMS HOSTS “HEAR FROM THE MAYOR” RADIO SHOW ON WBLS 107.5 FM

Gary Byrd: The second mayor of color and the first hip hop mayor in the city’s history. It’s time for us to hear from him once again, our mayor, Eric L. Adams on 107.5 WBLS. Mr. Mayor, good morning and welcome.

Mayor Eric Adams: Hey, good morning, Gary. And to all the listeners, this is our final episode of “Hear from the Mayor,” and I just really want to thank WBLS and the entire team over there, but personally, I just want to thank you for a friendship that spans over 40 years. And we have been going through and fighting on behalf of the upliftment of people in general, but specifically Black and brown people. And you have been a true warrior using the airwaves to educate and motivate. And I think we’ve accomplished some great things in that time.

And so, to all the listeners out there, I want to say happy Sunday. Welcome to the final episode of “Hear from the Mayor,” and I’m your mayor, Eric Adams. And if this is your first time joining and tuning in, the purpose of the show is just to have a real dialogue with you, with everyday working class New Yorkers. Listeners should give me a call and hear directly from me at 212-545-1075.

And as you can see, we have this season’s first accumulation of snow on the ground. The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for the region. Snow accumulations are expected to total three to five inches. So, get out there, shovel your snow. Once it stops, put some salt down so that no one will slip on your property. And the heaviest snow amount is right now. It should stop falling around 1 PM today. If you do not need to travel, stay inside, let the crews do their job, removing snow off our streets and off our roads. Remember, we want you to be informed. So, text to notify NYC to 692-692 for real time updates.

And so, a lot happened last night that we want to keep folks abreast of. Some things happened nationally, I mean internationally, I should say, and some things happened here locally. Locally, we had a shooting in Brooklyn, where six children were shot coming out of a sweet 16. Thankfully, all are expected to survive. But guns are hurting too many people, particularly our young people. We’re seeing a real trend towards young people being victims of gun violence. And today we are reflecting on all the work that we have done to build a safer city.

But we also had some terrible international incidents. In Australia, we had a number of people who were shot, in Australia, that is still under investigation. We see no nexus to the city, but it is really a terrible incident. As we acknowledge the first day of Hanukkah, we are really troubled by the shooting that took place overnight.

And when you add it to what happened yesterday at Brown University, we saw a number of students at Brown University who were shot, and we have some deaths there as well. A lot of details are still unraveling, but gun violence [is] not only impacting the international [but] national and the local. We’re going to continue to do the work that we’ve done.

I wanted to, Gary, open the airways up early as we have this last dialogue, just to hear from New Yorkers and get their feedback on the last few years of– I am really proud of this administration. And people often ask, “Well, you’re not able to do a second term, are you disappointed?” Of course, you want to continue the work that you do, but it’s 8.5 million people in the city, only 111 of them were mayors of the City of New York. Let’s never forget gratitude, and I have a lot of gratitude for the people for electing me.

And I have a great deal of gratitude of a mother with a third-grade education that raised the mayor of the City of New York, raised a young man to become the mayor of the City of New York. And that’s gratitude. Gratitude is not built on doing four years or 12 years like other mayors have done. Gratitude is getting here and doing the job we’ve done to help working class people.

And it’s really important to acknowledge that we touched every aspect of the lives of New Yorkers. And when you go back and look at what I ran on, and say, “Okay, let’s see that you deliver what you ran on, Eric.” I ran on public safety. This city is the safest big city in America.

We’re probably going to end the year, we’re close to a thousand people less shooting victims than when I took office in the first place. 25,000 illegal guns removed off our streets, 135,000 illegal vehicles, ghost cars, that were used for crimes, dirt bikes, and other illegal vehicles. Decrease in crime on our subway system. The safest subway system in the recorded history of the city. That was a long way from where we were in 2021.

And then when you look at robberies, grand larcenies, these other major crimes, you’re seeing decreases. As well as shoplifting, shoplifting was a real problem across the city. We see a 20 percent decrease in shoplifting, a decrease in hate crimes, particularly of crimes against people of color and antisemitism. We’re seeing a decrease. And so, you’re seeing the public safety that I stated I was going to give New Yorkers, you’re seeing the reality of that.

But not only public safety. There’s so much more that’s important to us. Housing, we built more affordable housing than any mayor in the history of the city. And, because of our City of Yes plan, we zoned the city for 433,000 units of housing. That is more than 12 years of Mayor Bloomberg, eight years of de Blasio combined. In four years, we did with two mayors and 20 years combined were unable to accomplish.

Move more people out of shelter into permanent housing. Clean our streets from the encampments that we saw, people living on the streets, living on the subway system, living in trees in the parks. When you start looking at what we’ve done, and we moved them into shelter. Because there’s no dignity living on the street, no matter what people say and how they try to sugarcoat it, there’s nothing dignified about living in a tent or cardboard box.

When I took office in January and I visited some of those locations, we saw inside those tents, we saw human waste, stale food, drug paraphernalia. People were suffering from schizophrenic behavior, bipolar. And so, there was nothing dignified about living on the street.

But we also looked after children. We knew that if we care, we must provide childcare. We lowered the cost of childcare from $220 a month to less than $20 a month, unbelievable what we did. 150,000 children got access to childcare across the city.

We went after foster care children, paying their college tuition, giving them life coaches, and to 21 instead of dropping off at 18. We went after justice, involving young people with a program called CRED, and we taught them real skills, after they had involvement in the criminal justice system. And then we looked at NYCHA, and said that not only must [we] get the NYCHA land trust so we can build better on NYCHA, but we also gave NYCHA the technology they needed in high-speed broadband for free. High-speed broadband and Big Apple Connect.

We wanted our young people to be ahead in technology. So, we gave free iPads to our young people. We wanted them to have safety after school. We did after school for all, 184,000 young people experiencing after school from kindergarten to eighth grade. The first ever comprehensive plan for universal afterschool program in the history of the city. A hundred thousand summer youth jobs, never have been done before. First time we got it done.

We passed so many pieces of legislation in Albany. We also overhauled how we teach reading and math and you’re seeing the results. We’re out pacing the state with reading and math. So, there’s so much that was done in these four years.

I’m leaving the city in good shape. I’m turning it over to the incoming mayor. And I said it once and I’m going to say it again, don’t screw it up, man. You know, we’re not going backwards. We can’t decriminalize prostitution. We can’t allow encampments back on our streets. We can’t run out high-income earnings from the city. We have to understand that we are in an ecosystem that all of us depend on each other.

Let’s go to some callers as I have time and hear from them. They should be home with their boos, drinking some hot chocolate under the blanket, and enjoying life. On a snowy day, this is when babies are made.

Byrd: Okay. The program is “Hear from the Mayor” and the mayor wants to hear from you, okay. 212-545-1075. We got a call standing by, just give us your first name and where you’re calling from if you join us this morning on 107.5 WBLS with Mayor Eric Adams.

Good morning. You’re in the air. Caller, you’re in the air, make sure you keep your radio down, talk to us right on the phone. First name and where you’re calling us from.

Question: Calling from Connecticut. There you go. There’s that bell. Mr. Mayor, thank you so much for taking my call and much respect. [inaudible].

Mr. Mayor, let me say this, from Connecticut, I supported you a hundred percent, bro. I was down with you, you know, being a former firefighter, definitely supporting you as a police officer and seeing you move up, when you became the second Black mayor, not a mayor of color. I’m going to say Black mayor of the City of New York.

Now, no doubt you did all those things. But let me tell you, right, initially Black New Yorkers supported you, but somehow, they felt throughout the course, Mayor Adams, that your agenda changed. And so, with that being said, there were terms that came up and I’ll be honest, I’m going to keep it 100. The word corruption came up. Okay, so the Black leadership distanced themselves from you and your support, and then switched it over to Mamdani. So, I had even arguments with my own family and still got to deal with that because I supported you 100 percent.

Now, with that being said. Now, in your opinion–

[Crosstalk.]

Mayor Adams: I got the essence of what you said. Let me say this to you. I don’t blame Black and brown folks for saying, “Okay, the mayor didn’t do anything.” That’s why I gave you the rundown that I just did. I’m gonna say to Black and brown folks, we gotta stop buying into the BS. If I was an everyday voter and I read the papers every day, I would have been saying the same things that you’re saying. And that’s why I understand that.

We were not getting coverage of our success long before the bogus lawfare that came at me. They were attacking us day one, day one. No matter what we did, cycle us out of Covid, cycle us out of 237,000 migrants and asylum seekers, recovered the job and dropped unemployment in a Black and brown community. One of the most diverse administrations in the history of the city, they were not giving us credit from the beginning.

And so, all they needed for us to do, like they did with David Dinkins, is to create the soundbite of– with Mayor Dinkins, they said he was incompetent. And then we started running around saying it. We’re the most easy folks to be duped that I’ve ever met. We don’t have to worry about the man coming after us, because we’re coming after us. I spent 40 years doing what’s right from police officers, state senator, borough president, then mayor. And all of a sudden I’m gonna wake up and be corrupt. We need to stop the madness.

And so, listen, you made a decision. You voted for who you wanted to vote for. All I can say to all of you out there who’s called me all those names. You’re going to miss me when I’m gone. That’s all I can tell you.

Byrd: Let’s get more calls in as quickly as possible. Thanks for joining us this morning. First name and where you’re calling us from. This is “Hear from the Mayor,” the mayor wants to hear from you. Good morning. Caller you’re in the air. Go right ahead, please. Don’t listen to your radio, listen on your phone. Stay right with us. First name and where you’re calling us from. Go right ahead, please.

Question: Adriana from Queens.

Mayor Adams: Hey, how are you?

Question: Good morning. Hi, how are you mayor?

Mayor Adams: Quite well.

Question: So, my question is first, I appreciate everything you’ve done, especially for our children in the education system in New York City. We’ve taken great strides, huge strides, in academia for our children, especially our Black and browns. And I appreciate everything you’ve done, and hopefully we don’t go backwards.

But my question to you is, DOE is really huge, right? It’s a large, I don’t even know what to say, bureaucracy or whatever it is you want to say. But you’ve done so much, and instead of us going backwards, how can parents, especially parent leaders across the city, what can we do to help with that? Because I feel like our voices are lost and I don’t mean on a local level. I mean, in the city level, no one really listens to our parents.

So now with the new mayor, you looking back at what you did with parents, what can we do as parent leaders, not the parents of every day, but parents within the system that are not being heard, what can we do that you have already done to support? Can you give me recommendations, suggestions?

[Crosstalk.]

Byrd: We’ll go to break and come back and give the mayor a chance to respond to your question and comment. And also, for those of you who are standing by at home, we’re coming back to you as well. 212-545-1075, “Hear from the Mayor,” and the mayor wants to hear from you.

[Commercial Break.]

Byrd: Well, it’s the last program for “Hear from the Mayor,” and the mayor wants to hear from you. 212-545-1075. We’re going right to your calls. Please express your comments so we can try to get to as many of you as possible this morning on 107.5 WBLS. Mr. Mayor, you were responding to a question.

Mayor Adams: Yes, we were about empowering parents and the school system. It’s important that the empowerment means going to the PTA meetings, try to get on your pep. Engaging with your school community and really starting your own parent support groups. You don’t have to be officially part of the system to improve the system.

What I think we can’t and shouldn’t do is go backwards to the days of the Board of Education. There needs to be a leader of the school system, and we cannot attempt to turn it over to the UFT. Particularly, the leadership over there. We need to allow those school professionals to continue the success that we’ve witnessed on every area. That’s both academically and mentally as well.

Byrd: Going right back to our phones right now. Thanks for joining us. First name, where you’re calling from, and your comment for Mayor Eric Adams. Go right ahead, please. I’ll call you in the air. Go right ahead, please. You’re in the air. Good morning.

Question: Yeah, Mr. Mayor, my name is [Kingdon] from Brooklyn, New York. How are you, sir?

Mayor Adams: Hey, how are you, man? Good to speak with you. Thanks for taking the call.

Question: First of all, happy holidays to you and everybody that’s listening. I got just a silly question, and a comment. The comment, not silly. The question, a little bit silly. First thing, is the question, Mr. Mayor, what’s your favorite restaurant in New York City? And what’s your go to order at that restaurant?

Mayor Adams: Well, I cook at home a lot because I know what the ingredients will be. But when I am out, I enjoy being in Brooklyn. Two Steps Down was one of my go to locations. But while I’m in Manhattan, I have a few spots I’d like to go to, Uptown Veg is one of my favorite places. Opera, I like that as well. So, it depends on what my taste buds is at.

Byrd: Alright caller, thanks for your call. Appreciate that. You’re in the air. Your first name and where you’re calling from for Mayor Eric Adams. Go right ahead, please. You’re in the air, go right ahead.

Question: Hi, this is Yvonne from Brooklyn.

Mayor Adams: What’s up, Yvonne?

Question: Hi. So, I watch your daily New York City Mayor’s Office updates every day. So that one light you see is me. Very quickly, so I was notified by the DEP that my service line had lead. And I remember you said that you were going to help homeowners change over that service line. And then I got an email saying that, no, that email was an error. But I had my water tested and I have ten times the amount of limit of lead in my water. So how can I– I [inaudible] the commissioner, I’m getting no help. How can I get help? Because I know you said you were going to help small homeowners.

Mayor Adams: Yes, we did. So, what I need for you to do is to reach out to my [Community Affairs Unit] and they can let you know about the program that we have for small property owners. I know there’s a limited budget to it, but we want to be there to help. So, my [Community Affairs Unit] is what you go online. You can look up the information, reach out to them, and they’ll help you navigate through the process.

Byrd: Trying to move things along. Thanks for your call this morning. We appreciate you. First name and where you’re calling us from. Your call from Mayor Eric Adams on WBLS. Good morning. Go right ahead, please. Go right ahead, please. You’re in the air. Go right ahead. We know you’re there. Go right ahead. Listen on your phone, not the radio. Hello. Good morning.

Question: Good morning, Gary. Mayor Adams, how you doing? Good morning. This is Craig from Brooklyn.

Mayor Adams: How’s it going, Craig?

Question: And I’m doing fine. And yourself?

Mayor Adams: Okay, we got to do a quick question because it’s going to be real quick.

Question: Let me get with it. Mayor Adams, first of all, I would like to thank you on the great job that you did for this city dealing with the circumstances that you was left with from previous mayors. You did a great job.

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

Question: I follow your career from you being Brooklyn borough president of my beloved Brooklyn. And I applaud you for all the work that you’ve done, the great things that you’ve done and you’ve made.

Mayor Adams: Thank you.

Byrd: Alright caller, thank you. I’m just jumping in to try to get another call in. Caller, you’re in the air. Last one. Go right ahead, please. First name. You’re in the air. Go right ahead, please. Talk to us directly in your phone.

Question: Hi, I’m calling in this week with Eric basically to thank him and commend him and give them a professional hug and thankful for his resilience and his remaining steadfast in his quest to achieve his goals. I wish him a great deal of success, and I wish him well on his future journey with hopes that I can continue to see him.

I wish he would stick around because he’s literally done so much for this city. And it’s a shame that so many people didn’t acknowledge his work and didn’t work or stand behind him, as they should have, because he was working for the people of the city. What people don’t realize is taking on positions and jobs such as that, it takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of time.

Byrd: Caller, I’m only jumping in because I want to give the mayor an opportunity of responding to wrap things up. Mayor Adams.

Mayor Adams: And I really appreciate that. And thank you for your kind words. And there is a life after government. And I’m excited about this. I’ve been doing this for 40 years, folks. 40 years of being scrutinized, of being applauded, yelled at, cursed at, kisses thrown at me, fingers pointed at me. For 40 years. Now it’s time to enjoy life and the fruits of my labor. And I’m looking forward to doing that every day. And when you see me out there and I got the smile on my face, I’m just simply saying to you, I’m good.

Byrd: Brother, that is good for us to hear. Brother, stay strong and be strong. No question about it. We love you. Stay strong.

Mayor Adams: Take care.

 

 

 

 

 

MAYOR ADAMS’ STATEMENT ON COMMISSION ON UNIVERSAL AFTER-
SCHOOL’S FINDINGS TO ACHIEVE UNIVERSAL AFTER-SCHOOL

 

NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Eric Adams today released the following statement on the Commission on Universal After-School’s interim report producing strategic recommendations to address issues facing the after-school ecosystem:

“When we set out to achieve “After-School for All,” we knew it would take a broad coalition to get it done — and to get it done right. By bringing together leaders from community-based providers, advocacy groups, philanthropy and the business sector, the city set out to build a long-term, sustainable strategy for a universal after-school system that gives nonprofits the support they need to hire staff, strengthen training, and deliver high-quality programs.

“I want to thank the commission for its work so far, and for the key findings that will guide this next phase. By confirming the significant unmet demand for K–5 programs, we can clearly identify the resources to support future expansion. The report underscores the importance of investing in the nonprofit workforce that powers high-quality programs, and the need to strengthen system coordination so that partnerships and collaboration are consistent across the city. Today’s findings also highlight the need to balance oversight with flexibility to maintain program quality, and the importance of ensuring high-need students can fully access and benefit from after-school opportunities.

“These efforts are essential to ensuring every child has a safe, supportive place to learn and grow, and to building a stronger, more sustainable system for the future. It is critical that we continue the commission’s work and stay focused on expanding and improving after-school programs. We cannot and will not rest on our laurels because New York City’s working-class families need us now.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Eric Adams and leaders across city government today celebrated four years of historic accomplishments under the Adams administration. After taking office in the middle of a once-in-a-generation pandemic, a global recession, and rising crime, Mayor Adams moved quickly to keep New Yorkers safe, reopen the city, and rebuild the economy. But Mayor Adams did more than just bring New York City back; the Adams administration launched landmark initiatives to create a safer, more affordable city in its place — passing historic housing legislation, overhauling the city’s approach to homelessness and mental health, making landmark strides against the cost-of-living crisis, transforming public schools, expanding public spaces, and much more — all helping to make New York the best place to live and raise a family. Thanks to four years of responsible, common-sense leadership, the Adams administration leaves behind a city where working-class New Yorkers can still get ahead.

 

 

 

Additionally, Mayor Adams today commemorated his administration’s historic accomplishments with a time capsule buried near City Hall. The time capsule — which includes objects selected by each senior leadership team to represent their work over the last four years — will be opened in a decade.

 

 

 

“We took office with a simple promise: to ‘Get Stuff Done,’ and, four years later, our administration can say that we delivered on that promise every day for working-class New Yorkers,” said Mayor Adams. “We drove shootings to record lows and pushed jobs and small businesses to record highs. We rewrote the playbook on homelessness and mental health to finally get New Yorkers living on our streets the help they need, and, after decades of half-measures, passed historic housing legislation to turn New York into a ‘City of Yes.’ We overhauled the way our students learn to read and do math, cut the cost of child care, and forgave medical debt. We eliminated taxes for low-income families and launched free universal after-school programming. We got scaffolding off our buildings, trash bags off our streets, and opened up new public spaces for New Yorkers to enjoy. The haters may have doubted us, but the results are clear. On issue after issue, we brought common-sense leadership to create a safer, more affordable city, and our work has changed our city for the better; it will stand the test of time because we made New York City the best place to live and raise a family.”

 

 

 

Made America’s Safest Big City Even Safer

 

 

 

When Mayor Adams came into office, crime was rising and quality of life was deteriorating. The Adams administration moved quickly to protect New Yorkers — bringing a comprehensive, whole-of-government approach to public safety.

 

 

 

The Adams administration expanded New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) recruitment efforts, strengthened training procedures, and hired nearly 10,000 new NYPD officers. To combat a surge in gun violence and turn the tide from double-digit increases in gun violence to double-digit decreases in gun violence, the Adams administration unveiled the “Blueprint to End Gun Violence” and launched Neighborhood Safety Teams at the NYPD that have helped remove approximately 25,000 illegal guns from city streets; carried out 61 gang-related takedowns; and launched another $485 million blueprint to prevent gun violence through mentorship, mental health counseling, and job training. These strategies have paid off: shootings have plummeted by 55 percent and homicides have dropped by nearly 36 percent compared to the same period before the start of the Adams administration. Today, shooting incidents and shooting victims are at the lowest levels in the city’s recorded history for the first 11 months of the year.

 

 

 

When the administration began, auto theft was on an upward trajectory, so the administration worked with outside partners to distribute free tracking devices for New Yorkers to place in their cars, deployed dedicated vehicles in each police precinct to identify and track stolen cars, and worked with automobile dealers and the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles to crack down on car theft and grand larceny auto. After declining in 2024, car theft is now down another 5.8 percent year-to-date. Additionally, Mayor Adams’ “Charge Safe, Ride Safe: New York City’s Electric Micromobility Action Plan ” helped cut lithium-ion battery fire deaths by 67 percent since its introduction in 2023, after lithium-ion battery fire deaths skyrocketed the year before. After deploying 1,000 additional police officers into the city’s subway system in October 2022 and then again several times during the administration, transit crime declined for three years in a row.

 

 

 

To address New Yorkers’ non-emergency concerns — such as noise complaints, illegal parking, outdoor drug use, and more — Mayor Adams created a new Quality of Life Division at the NYPD, assigned 1,500 NYPD officers to the division, and expanded Quality of Life teams to all precincts across the city. After securing the power from the New York state Legislature to shut down illegal cannabis shops, Mayor Adams launched “Operation Padlock to Protect” to crack down on the sale of illegal cannabis; shut down over 1,600 illegal cannabis stores; and seized over $116 million in illegal products.

 

 

 

The Adams administration also seized more than 125,000 ghost cars and illegal mopeds, scooters, and all-terrain vehicles and implemented a 15 miles-per-hour speed limit for e-bikes across the five boroughs. Further, the administration installed a record number of protected bike lanes and completed major street redesigns across the city to protect pedestrians and cyclists. Bicycle fatalities, motorized two-wheeler fatalities, and overall traffic fatalities are all down by double digits year-to-date.

 

 

 

A Whole New Approach to Homelessness and Severe Mental Illness

 

 

 

Mayor Adams transformed the city’s approach to street homelessness and severe mental illness many New Yorkers are suffering from. Shortly after taking office, Mayor Adams launched an ambitious Subway Safety Plan to get New Yorkers living on city streets and subways the help, health care, and housing they deserve. Since the start of the plan, over 8,900 New Yorkers have been connected from subways to shelter and 1,200 have been connected to permanent affordable housing. Across the administration’s efforts, the New York City Department of Social Services connected over 53,200 New Yorkers to subsidized permanent housing from shelter — a 26 percent increase compared to the second term of the last administration.

 

 

 

The administration increased outreach staffing at the New York City Department of Homeless Services (DHS) and aggressively expanded specialized shelter beds — which are designed to serve the unique needs of New Yorkers experiencing unsheltered homelessness — bringing nearly 1,350 new low-barrier shelter beds online. Earlier this year, Mayor Adams announced a historic $650 million investment to bolster these efforts, including bringing DHS’ street programming budget to $400 million; this will be the largest annual investment in street sheltering in city history and more than double the city’s programming budget compared to when Mayor Adams entered office. The administration also prioritized co-response outreach teams, such as Subway Co-Response Outreach Teams (SCOUT) and Partnership Assistance for Transit Homelessness (PATH), that bring together law enforcement and mental health professionals to support the hardest-to-reach New Yorkers. Since launching the PATH program in August 2024, PATH teams have made over 20,000 engagements with unhoused New Yorkers and delivered critical services over 6,100 times. Mayor Adams also announced a major evolution of the Behavioral Health Emergency Assistance Response Division (B-HEARD) — the city’s mental health-led response to 911 mental health calls — that will shift the focus even further towards a health-first response by streamlining management to be fully operated and managed by NYC Health + Hospitals in the coming months.

 

 

 

Moreover, Mayor Adams fundamentally shifted the conversation on how to help people with severe mental illness. Since 2022, Mayor Adams forcefully advocated for more proactive use of involuntary commitments to help those experiencing a psychiatric crisis. In 2025, following Mayor Adams’ repeated calls, Albany passed a budget incorporating key provisions of the administration’s “Supportive Interventions Act” to help deliver life-saving psychiatric care, even for those who cannot recognize their own need for it. And, as part of his campaign to “End the Culture of Anything Goes,” Mayor Adams laid out a vision to expand upon this work with a change in state law to authorize civil commitment for those struggling with substance use disorder.

 

 

 

The Most Pro-Housing Administration in City History

 

 

 

When Mayor Adams came into office, he promised to turn the page on decades of dysfunction, make real progress against New York City’s long-standing housing crisis, and create 500,000 units of housing by 2032; four years later, he delivered, and the Adams administration is well on the way to that goal by creating, preserving, or planning over 433,000 homes through its efforts to date.

 

 

 

Thanks to decisive strategies to build more housing — including cutting red tape to speed up construction of new developments and investing a historic $26 billion towards affordable housing through the city’s 10-Year Capital Plan in Fiscal Year 2025 — the Adams administration has produced nearly 86,000 affordable homes, with the last three fiscal years representing the most new affordable homes ever created in a three fiscal-year stretch (Fiscal Year 2023 – Fiscal Year 2025).

 

 

 

The Adams administration also passed landmark changes to overhaul the city’s outdated zoning code and spark the creation of new housing. In December 2024, Mayor Adams passed “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity” — the most pro-housing legislation in city history — to create over 80,000 new homes and invest $5 billion in housing and infrastructure. Additionally, Mayor Adams passed five neighborhood plans to create nearly 50,000 homes over the next 15 years in the Bronx Metro North neighborhood, Central Brooklyn, Midtown South in Manhattan, and Long Island City and Jamaica in Queens. The Adams administration’s rezoning efforts in less than four years alone are expected to create more new housing than the previous two mayoral administrations’ rezoning efforts in 20 years combined.

 

 

 

To build new housing everywhere, Mayor Adams advanced over 10,000 new homes on city-owned land through his historic Executive Order 43; secured a landmark housing deal in Albany to give the city new housing tools; and convened the first-ever Charter Revision Commission to focus specifically on housing and land use measures.

 

 

 

Additionally, the Adams administration put public housing first, helping to unlock nearly $5.5 billion in capital repairs for over 24,000 residents through the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together program and helping establish the Preservation Trust to repair, rehabilitate, and modernize 25,000 apartments under control of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA).

 

 

 

Moreover, the Adams administration has worked to connect New Yorkers to homes and keep New Yorkers in their homes, connecting a record number 30,000 New Yorkers with affordable homes through the city’s Housing Lottery.

 

 

 

An Economy That Has Delivered for Working-Class New Yorkers

 

 

 

Shortly after coming into office, Mayor Adams released “Rebuild, Renew, Reinvent: A Blueprint for New York City’s Economic Recovery” to accelerate the city’s recovery and create a more equitable, inclusive economy. Four years later, the Adams administration has shattered the record for the most jobs in city history 12 times, with nearly 5 million jobs across the five boroughs today. Unemployment has fallen by nearly 40 percent since the start of the Adams administration, including a 31 percent drop in Black, indigenous, and people of color unemployment.

 

 

 

The Adams administration launched hiring halls across the five boroughs to bring both public- and private-sector job opportunities and career services directly to New Yorkers; established new programs to attract major companies to New York City; and won the 2026 FIFA World Cup Finals for New York and New Jersey to add $2 billion to the metro area’s economy.

 

 

 

Mayor Adams not only helped create new jobs; he took proactive steps to boost wages, expand benefits, and make sure new jobs across the five boroughs paid well. The Adams administration established a first-of-its-kind minimum hourly pay rate for app-based delivery workers and helped increase delivery worker wages by $1 billion; secured a $741 million cost-of-living adjustment for 80,000 human services workers; and reached union contracts with nearly 99 percent of city workers, finally giving the public-sector workforce the pay and benefits they deserve. Additionally, to make sure that the city is promoting inclusive growth, the Adams administration has awarded $24 billion to minority- and- women-owned businesses (M/WBE) and, for the first time in city history, achieved a combined citywide M/WBE utilization rate of 36 percent among city agencies.

 

 

 

To support the mom-and-pop stores that power New York City’s neighborhoods, the Adams administration facilitated more than $350 million in financing to small business owners and entrepreneurs, including $85 million through its innovative Small Business Opportunity Fund to give capital directly to the city’s small businesses. The Adams administration cut red tape to save small businesses nearly $16 million and passed “City of Yes for Economic Opportunity” to provide businesses with clear, modern zoning rules that support growth. Additionally, to support the city’s cultural institutions, the Adams administration invested a historic $300 million into the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and delivered the largest expansion of the city’s Cultural Institutions Group in nearly five decades.

 

 

 

But Mayor Adams not only focused on creating jobs and businesses today; the Adams administration made smart investments to keep New York City at the front of the global economy for decades to come. The administration released the “Green Economy Action Plan,” a first-of-its-kind plan that lays out a roadmap to growing the city’s green economy, invests in jobs and sectors that help the city combat climate change, and positions New Yorkers to benefit from the nearly 400,000 projected ‘green-collar’ jobs in New York City by 2040. Additionally, under the Adams administration, New York City’s waterfront has been reimagined as a ‘Harbor of the Future,’ with a modern maritime port and vibrant mixed-use community hub at the Brooklyn Marine Terminal in Red Hook, the Hunts Point Produce Market in the Bronx, the newly-announced climate innovation hub “BATWorks” at the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park, the country’s largest offshore wind port at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, the Science Park and Research Campus in Kips Bay in Manhattan, new sustainable housing and public space on the North Shore of Staten Island, and an anchor research and educational partnership with the New York Climate Exchange on Governors Island. Along with smart investments in artificial intelligence, digital gaming, and the film and television sector, these investments will create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the future.

 

 

 

Putting Billions of Dollars Back into New Yorkers’ Pockets

 

 

 

Mayor Adams launched sweeping programs to address New York City’s cost of living crisis and save New Yorkers money on child care, internet, rent, and more. The Adams administration put more than $30 billion back into New Yorkers’ pockets through city, state, and federal programs.

 

 

 

In June 2022, Mayor Adams launched “Accessible, Equitable, High-quality, Affordable: A Blueprint for Child Care & Early Childhood Education in New York City” to provide high-quality, affordable child care to New York City families. The Adams administration created a new “MyCity” portal to give families a one-stop shop for city services, cut the cost of subsidized child care from $55 per week in 2022 to less than $5 today, and saved families more than $3 billion through child care vouchers. The Adams administration launched a child care initiative for 0-2 year olds that puts New York City on the path to universal child care for low-income families, established a pilot program for city workers employed by the New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services, and enrolled 150,000 children — an all-time high — across the early childhood education system. Additionally, Mayor Adams established a historic “After-School for All” program to offer free afterschool programming to 184,000 young people in kindergarten through eighth grade and create the first-ever comprehensive plan for universal afterschool in New York City.

 

 

 

To bridge the digital divide, Mayor Adams launched “Big Apple Connect” and brought free internet and basic cable service to 330,000 New Yorkers across 220 sites in NYCHA. Mayor Adams also launched a dynamic “Liberty Link” pilot to build on the program’s success and bring free internet to another 2,200 households across 35 affordable housing buildings in the Bronx and Upper Manhattan. And — to bring more young people online — Mayor Adams is issuing new internet-enabled devices for free to public school students during the 2025-2026 school year.

 

 

 

Mayor Adams took landmark steps to wipe out New Yorkers’ debt, partnering with Undue Medical Debt to forgive $2 billion in medical debt for 500,000 New Yorkers. Mayor Adams also launched eight new NYC Financial Empowerment Centers at select NYC Health + Hospitals locations across the health system to help New Yorkers better plan and avoid going into medical debt in the future.

 

 

 

Additionally, Mayor Adams launched the largest student loan forgiveness aid program in the country to help roughly 1.4 million New Yorkers enroll in federal student debt relief and repayment programs and, ultimately, keep up to $1 billion. The Adams administration has also secured more than $120 million in consumer and worker relief for New Yorkers since the start of the administration, including through the largest worker protection settlement in city history with Starbucks.

 

 

 

Finally, the Adams administration went to Albany to fight for lower taxes — expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit to save over 1.7 million New Yorkers more than $345 million every year and introducing and getting passed “Axe the Tax for the Working Class” to slash and eliminate city personal income taxes to give $63 million back to over 582,000 New Yorkers. Moreover, the administration has helped New Yorkers complete 367,000 tax returns for free and save more than $95 million in free tax prep services over the past four years.

 

 

 

A First-Rate Education for Every Student

 

 

 

Mayor Adams promised to give every New York City public-school student a first-rate education and took historic steps to overhaul outdated curricula, open up new gifted and talented seats for students, and prepare young people for the 21st century. Mayor Adams launched “NYC Reads” and “NYC Solves” to bring evidence-based reading and math instruction to half a million students and — thanks in part to these transformative initiatives — increased reading and math scores for public-school students up in the 2024-2025 school year. The Adams administration also opened up 33,000 new school seats — including the most new seats in two decade last year alone — and established the Division of Inclusive and Accessible Learning to serve students with disabilities and multilingual learners.

 

 

 

To support students outside of the classroom and give more young people good-paying summer jobs, the Adams administration expanded the city’s Summer Youth Employment Program to a record 100,000 slots per year. Under the Adams administration’s FutureReadyNYC program, the administration provided 15,000 students with work-based learning experiences at companies such as Google, Norwell Health, and more. Additionally, through Mayor Adams’ “Financial Literacy for Youth” initiative, the city set an ambitious goal of making sure that every public school student can learn to save and spend money by 2030; to help meet this goal, the Adams administration is placing financial educators in every single school district and launching an innovative in-school banking program to bring banking services directly to 15 public schools.

 

 

 

To support youth in foster care, Mayor Adams expanded the New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) Fair Futures program to give approximately 6,000 young people one-on-one coaching and tutoring, launched the ACS College Choice program to give over 500 youth financial support for college, and created the Career Choice program to support approximately 400 youth seeking vocational, trade, and workforce development training.

 

 

 

Healthier City, Longer Lives

 

 

 

In 2023, Mayor Adams launched “HealthyNYC,” an ambitious whole-of-government campaign to increase New Yorkers’ average life expectancy to 83 years by 2030. In late 2025, Mayor Adams announced that the city had already met its goal, five years ahead of schedule. The achievement followed several strategic investments by the administration to address the greatest drivers of premature death.

 

 

 

After significant multi-year investments in overdose prevention and drug use recovery services, New York City saw the first significant decrease in opioid overdose deaths in a decade. The progress builds on the work the Adams administration has done to ramp up annual support to $50 million per year for opioid prevention and treatment using settlement funds secured by New York City and New York state from pharmaceutical companies. The administration provided free doula services to over 3,500 expecting parents through its Citywide Doula Initiative, increasing doula coverage to 25 percent of New York City residents without any maternal deaths through the program. The city also connected over 12,000 individuals to licensed abortion care providers through its Abortion Access Hub.

 

 

 

Mayor Adams expanded the NYC Health + Hospitals’ lifestyle medicine program — which helps patients make evidence-based lifestyle changes, including a plant-based diet, increased physical activity, improved sleep habits, stress reduction, avoidance of substance use, and stronger social connections — to the entire city and made plant-based meals the default choice for lunch and dinner at 11 hospitals. The city’s health system has served over 2 million plant-based meals since the program began in March 2022.

 

 

 

To support the health of young people, Mayor Adams launched “NYC Teenspace,” a free tele-mental health service for teens that saw over 10,000 teens sign up, and repeatedly brought litigation against e-vape distributors and wholesalers. The Adams administration also issued a landmark Health Commissioner’s Advisory identifying unfettered access to social media as a public health hazard and filed a lawsuit to hold the owners of five social media platforms accountable for their role in helping fuel the nationwide youth mental health crisis.

 

 

 

Meeting the Moment on Asylum Seekers

 

 

 

The Adams administration skillfully managed an unprecedented, international humanitarian crisis — opening up over 260 shelters and serving approximately 245,000 migrants from over 160 countries who arrived in the five boroughs seeking care and support since the spring of 2022. The city’s Asylum Application Help Center — a first-in-the-nation entity — helped complete more than 140,000 applications for work authorization, Temporary Protected Status, and asylum. Through a herculean effort involving dozens of city agencies, the city was able to shelter, feed, clothe, educate, vaccinate, and support new arrivals to the city. To date, over 86 percent of migrants and asylum seekers who have asked for help have taken the next steps in their journeys. Finally, Mayor Adams successfully achieved more than $7.1 billion in asylum seeker savings over three fiscal years thanks to smart decisions.

 

 

 

Additionally, the administration launched the largest network of coordinated municipal immigrant legal services and the largest community support network in the United States, investing in 29 Immigration Legal Support Centers that deliver free, high-quality immigration legal assistance. Through the Fiscal Year 2026 Adopted Budget, the Adams administration and the New York City Council nearly doubled the amount of funding invested into immigrant legal services, bringing the 2026 immigrant legal services budget to $120.7 million — a record level.

 

 

 

Creating World-Class Public Spaces

 

 

 

Public spaces are an essential part of New York City, giving families a place to play, learn, rest, and connect. That is why the Adams administration created 49 football fields of new public spaces and launched bold initiatives to transform Fifth Avenue into a world-class, pedestrian-centered boulevard; advance the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project to protect Manhattan from future storms and high tides; create a new public space under the Brooklyn Bridge with The Arches; redesign Kimlau Plaza in Chinatown as a safer, simpler intersection; and much more. Through its “Vital Parks for All” initiative, the Adams administration has put an additional 37,000 New Yorkers within a 10-minute walk of greenspace.

 

 

 

To create cleaner streets, the Adams administration launched the “Trash Revolution” and issued landmark rules requiring 70 percent of trash bags to be moved into container bins. Through these efforts, approximately 11 billion pounds of trash have been taken off the city’s streets over the last 12 months alone and a pathway to 100 percent trash containerization for businesses has been laid out for the coming decade. The administration’s Targeted Neighborhood Task Force has completed more than 46,000 cleanings while rat sightings reported to 311 have declined for 12 straight months in a row.

 

 

 

To create brighter streets, the administration launched a historic “Get Sheds Down” initiative, took down over 425 longstanding sidewalk sheds, passed landmark legislation to remove unsightly scaffolding from buildings, and unveiled newer, safer, lighter scaffolding designs.

 

Additionally, the Adams administration established “Dining Out NYC,” the largest outdoor dining program in the country, to deliver a safe, accessible outdoor dining experience; in 2025, the number of outdoor dining applicants was triple the size of the city’s pre-pandemic program.

 

 

 

Finally, to prepare New York City for the long-term threat of climate change, the administration invested $1.2 billion into anti-flooding efforts, constructed over 2,900 rain gardens and infiltration basins with city sidewalks, and passed “City of Yes for Carbon Neutrality” to deliver clean energy, lower emissions, and more convenient electric charging to New Yorkers.

 

 

 

Budgeting for Success

 

 

 

Despite unprecedented fiscal challenges — including the need to fund long term programs that had previously been supported with expiring federal stimulus dollars and an unprecedented humanitarian asylum seeker emergency that cost the city more than $8.6 billion — the Adams administration delivered four on-time, balanced, fiscally-responsible, annual budgets. In Fiscal Year 2026, the Adams administration successfully negotiated the first adopted budget in nearly 20 years to receive a unanimous vote by the entire City Council. Thanks to strong fiscal management, four independent, internationally- recognized credit rating agencies affirmed the city’s strong bond ratings and stable outlook 18 consecutive times.

 

 

 

Finally, the Adams administration launched and implemented Climate Budgeting, making New York City the first big city in the United States to permanently embed climate considerations into budgeting decisions and joining an elite group of global cities, including London, Oslo, and Mumbai.

 

MOST PRO-HOUSING ADMINISTRATION IN CITY HISTORY: MAYOR ADAMS ANNOUNCES CITYWIDE INITIATIVE TO MAKE HOUSING MORE INCLUSIVE FOR NEW YORKERS WITH PETS

Multi-Agency Initiative Will Expand Access to Pet-Friendly Housing, Shelters,
and Resources Across New York City

 

NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Eric Adams today continued his administration’s efforts to be the most pro-housing administration in city history by announcing a coordinated, citywide initiative to make housing more inclusive for New Yorkers with pets, whether they are in permanent or temporary housing. Through new and expanded programs across the Mayor’s Office of Animal Welfare, the New York City Department of Homeless Services (DHS), the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), the New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA), and the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), the city is working to ensure no New Yorker is forced to choose between their home and their pet while simultaneously alleviating shelter intake and expanding the pool of potential adopters, a need underscored by Animal Care Centers of NYC (ACC). By reducing housing-related barriers to pet ownership, which is a leading factor in pet surrenders and a major contributor to the high populations in the city’s animal shelters, the Adams administration is working to ensure no New Yorker is forced to choose between their home and their pet.

 

“Every New Yorker deserves the stability of a home, and for so many of us, that home includes a beloved pet,” said Mayor Adams. “This initiative sends a clear message: no one should ever have to choose between keeping a roof over their head and keeping their family together. By reducing barriers to pet-inclusive housing and strengthening the programs that support both people and animals, we are easing pressure on our animal shelter system, preventing unnecessary surrenders, and expanding the pool of loving adopters. This work builds on our administration’s historic investments to expand and modernize animal care facilities in every borough, and it reflects our commitment to building a more compassionate, inclusive city for all New Yorkers, human and animal alike.”

 

“This initiative makes our housing and shelter systems more responsive to the realities of New Yorkers’ lives,” said Deputy Mayor for Administration and Chief of Staff Camille Joseph Varlack. “For many people, pets are members of the family, yet outdated rules, especially those affecting large dogs and certain breeds, have created unnecessary barriers. By aligning policies across agencies, we are giving families clearer options so they can stay together while accessing the housing and support they need.”

 

Promoting Pet Inclusivity Across All Housing Sectors

 

The Mayor’s Office of Animal Welfare will lead several citywide initiatives to promote pet-inclusive housing policies and protections for New Yorkers with pets, regardless of pet size or breed, across the public and private sectors. These efforts include:

 

• Partnering with the Michelson Found Animals’ Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative to encourage pet-inclusive policies among landlords and property managers.
• Educating New Yorkers on tenant legal protections through a detailed Keeping Pets in New York City Housing flyer developed with the Tenant Protection Cabinet.
• Joining with “My Dog Is My Home’s” Co-Sheltering Collaborative to create a New York City working group in October 2025 focused on keeping people and pets together.

 

These efforts reflect the Adams administration’s broader commitment to fair, inclusive, and compassionate housing policies that recognize the vital role pets play in people’s lives and contributes to making New York City the best place to raise a family.

 

Expanding Pet-Friendly Affordable Housing

 

HPD aims to create a policy that establishes a clear, enforceable standard for pet inclusivity across publicly financed housing developments. HPD is committed to reviewing the marketing guidelines for affordable housing leased through Housing Connect. The goal is to update the guidelines, ensuring that pet owners are eligible to live in housing units leased through the affordable housing lottery. Currently, HPD’s affordable housing programs only apply to families living with assistance animals, following fair housing standards.

 

Supporting Pet Ownership in Public Housing

 

NYCHA launched a Pet Policy Education and Engagement Project to enhance awareness and compliance with NYCHA’s pet, service animal, and emotional support animal policies, and to connect residents with animal care resources. The project will:

 

• Create a resource library on NYCHA’s website to connect residents with animal care resources.
• Provide opportunities for animal care organizations to participate in family day events for resident leaders and residents who express interest.
• Expand staff training to strengthen policy implementation, with a focus on helping residents meet pet care and management (e.g. spay/neuter, leash rules, etc.).
• Conduct a resident survey to collect feedback and guide future improvements to pet policies.

Keeping People and Pets Together in Shelters

 

DHS will expand pet-inclusive shelter models across the city, supporting both families and individuals experiencing homelessness. Planned actions include:

 

• Families with Children: Expanding the presence of People and Animals Living Safely at DHS through the launch of a new pilot at one of Urban Resource Institute’s Families with Children shelter. The pilot will enable families new to shelter to enter with their pets and will set aside 20 pet-friendly units, supporting up to 30 pets. Notably, this will mark the city’s first pilot for families with pets entering the standard shelter intake process through the Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing family intake c
• Low-Barrier Sites: Through a partnership with Bronx Family Network, six units at one stabilization bed site, The Holly, will be dedicated to unsheltered individuals with pets, offering a low-barrier environment where people can remain with their pets.
• Drop-in Centers: Allowing pets at three drop-in centers across the city during Code Blue emergencies, with an updated policy to be published before year’s end.

Data and Policy Development: Beginning with the 2026 Spring Quarterly Count, DHS will include pets in quarterly street counts to inform potential inclusion in the 2027 HOPE Count.

DHS Survey: DHS issued a survey to contracted providers in mid-November to understand the need for additional pet-inclusive shelters and the operational considerations for allowing pets beyond emotional support animals and service animals. Provider responses are due by the end of the year, with findings anticipated in early 2026.

HPD’s Emergency Housing Services program provides temporary emergency housing for households displaced by a fire or a city issued vacate order. HPD is conducting a feasibility study to determine whether co-habitation of pets can be integrated into family shelters. Based on the results of that study, HPD’s co-sheltering pilot program will help keep more families experiencing emergencies together with their pets.

 

Expanding Pet Access for Domestic Violence Survivors

 

HRA will expand partnerships and strengthen operations to ensure that survivors of domestic violence can access safe shelter without having to leave their pets behind.

 

Currently, 17 of the 54 domestic violence shelters accept pets through partnerships such as Urban Resource Institute’s People and Animals Living Safely and Volunteers of America’s Survivors and Pets Opportunity to Thrive initiatives. HRA will:

 

• Continue training Safe Horizon Hotline staff and No Violence Again teams to identify and connect survivors with shelters that accept pets or with temporary foster and boarding programs.
• Regularly update resources for shelter providers and partner organizations to improve coordination and safety for survivors and their pets.

Today’s announcement builds on the Adams administration’s broader commitment to increase capacity to better care for the animals in shelter populations. Earlier this year, the Adams administration announced a one million dollar investment in the ACC to improve Manhattan and Queens shelter conditions by supporting the hiring and training of 14 additional staff for those locations. In 2022, the Adams administration opened a new ACC in Staten Island to better serve the needs of sheltered animals on Staten Island. In 2024, the first full-service animal shelter opened in Queens and a new Pet Adoption Center opened in Manhattan. A new Bronx ACC — the first full-service animal shelter for the borough — is expected to open next year, and a fully renovated Brooklyn ACC is also in the works.

 

“Every day ACC takes in pets that are being surrendered, many because their families can’t find pet-inclusive housing” said Risa Weinstock, president and CEO, Animal Care Centers of New York City. “These are loved animals, family members, being given up not for behavior, not for lack of care, but because their humans are out of options. When we keep people and pets together, we preserve families, reduce intake pressure on shelters, and strengthen the communities we all share. New Yorkers deserve housing policies that reflect what we already know: pets are family.”

 

“We’re proud to partner with the New York City Mayor’s Office of Animal Welfare to make it easier for people and pets to stay together,” said Ross Barker, program director, pet-inclusive housing initiative, Michelson Found Animals Foundation. “By helping housing providers adopt pet-inclusive practices, New York City is showing how local leadership and collaboration can strengthen communities and improve lives — for both residents and the animals they love.”

 

“New York City has a long and proud history of recognizing that animal welfare and human well-being are deeply connected. We’re grateful to partner with the Adams administration as meaningful steps are taken to ensure that the city’s efforts to develop a more affordable, fair, and livable housing landscape are inclusive of our animal family members,” said Christine Kim, founder and executive director, My Dog Is My Home. “Expanding pet-inclusive options across the housing system, from emergency to permanent affordable housing, is the strongest way to keep people and animals together.”

 

“Most of us consider our pets to be part of the family, but sadly, these bonds are being strained by restrictive policies that make it particularly challenging for families, especially lower-income households and renters, to secure housing that accommodates their four-legged family members,” said Michelle Villagomez, senior director, municipal affairs, ASPCA. “By removing unnecessary barriers and expanding access to pet-friendly housing, we can help keep families together, reduce pressure on local shelters, and ensure more New Yorkers can remain safely housed with the animals they love. We thank the Mayor’s Office of Animal Welfare for prioritizing this critical work.”

 

“Since 2013, we have ensured that more than 2,000 families and over 1,000 pets could remain safely together,” said Nathaniel Fields, chief executive officer, Urban Resource Institute “Our team has seen firsthand how preserving that bond can change the trajectory of a family’s life. Opening PALS at Magnolia Gardens is not just an expansion. It is a signal of what we stand for: removing barriers to safety, honoring the full reality of families’ lives, and building a city where no one has to choose between protection and the companion that gives them strength.”

 

“Breaking Ground is a strong believer in the importance of the human-animal bond, and that it should not be a barrier to achieving stability in housing,” said Amie Pospisil, chief operating officer, Breaking Ground. “We are thrilled to see progress across city agencies and providers to improve access to transitional and permanent housing where people experiencing homelessness can co-shelter with their pets.”

 

Banner Image:  Mayor Eric Adams hosts a roundtable discussion with ethnic and community media. City Hall. Monday, December 15, 2025. Image Credit – Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office