 Good morning, everybody. Thank you so much all for coming. I'm Jessica Katz. I'm the Chief Housing Officer for the City of New York, and I'm thrilled to finally deliver Housing Our Neighbors, a blueprint for housing and homelessness. Housing is fundamental to a successful life. In the hierarchy of needs, you must have stable housing to succeed in education, in a job, to support your family, and more. Housing must be a priority, and that's what this plan commits to. One of the most important steps to starting this process is acknowledging our homeless crisis is a housing issue. For the first time ever, we hosted multiple sessions with homeless and formerly homeless New Yorkers to hear directly from those with lived experience on how we can do better. Now, everybody who is in those meetings, please raise your hand. Round of applause. Hey, everybody. Thank you so much for being here. We have ample programs and services across our city, but if those in need are not able to access or receive them, we're all falling short. We're committed to fixing that today. We co-hosted a peer advocate meetings with Shams DeBaron and Rob Robinson with me at City Hall. Having around 25 homeless and formerly homeless New Yorkers come to City Hall, get to speak to the mayor himself, and speak directly to city leadership is something I'm very proud of. And to Shams, to Rob and Lyndon and all our fellow New Yorkers with lived experience, this plans for you. Shams, you're working so hard to give homeless New Yorkers better futures, and I'm so grateful for your support and your partnership. I would like to welcome up the homeless hero, Shams DeBaron. So today, I'm gonna be brief because I'm once again overjoyed and overwhelmed with the direction that this administration is moving in. I asked for the opportunity to speak on behalf of myself and the impacted advocates who now have a seat at the table. No need for a passionate speech today because, honestly, I want time to process and enjoy what is truly a historic moment. We, the impacted advocates, if you're here and you stood at that round table, can you stand up for a second? I want people to see you. We want to thank Mayor Adams, Deputy Mayor and William Isom Chief Housing Officer Jessica Katz, DSS Commissioner Gary Jacobs and the entire administration for giving us an opportunity to help contribute to the New York City blueprint for housing and homelessness. The name alone is powerful. I see my brother right there, too. Another brother that worked with us. Never in the history of America has people that have been impacted by homelessness and housing insecurity been given an opportunity to help shape policy at such a high level. Last year, under the previous administration, we were yelling outside of Silly Hall. I said Silly Hall or City Hall? I'm sorry. But this year is City Hall and under Mayor Adams, we've been allowed inside City Hall. Not to be a pop for the press or for any photo ops. There was homeless New Yorkers helping to craft a housing plan with the administration and so much of what is in it is reflective of the ideas prevented by people impacted by homelessness and housing insecurity. I brought these homeless New Yorkers with me inside City Hall because I knew that our voices matter. To all of my impacted advocates, I want you to embrace this historic moment and embrace your power. You defy the stigmas. You defy the negative narratives. You have done a great service to the city. And I thank you for joining me at that roundtable and to the administration. On behalf of impacted advocates and all homeless New Yorkers again, we thank you and we are here to help continue to get stuff done. Thank you. A key voice that we must elevate is that of our youth who have been homeless. That is a standard by which you judge a society on. How do we house and support our young people? Lyndon is making sure we hear him and his peers. He is one of the New York City Youth Action Board co-chairs who is a leader in helping address youth homelessness. I'm honored that he is with us today and a partner with us going forward. To introduce the mayor, I want to bring up Lyndon Hernandez. New York City, my name is Lyndon Hernandez. I go by pronouncing him. I'm 25 years old. I'm also the father of an amazing boy named Kendall. I am a person with lived expertise being homeless in both the adult family and youth homelessness systems. Currently, I am one of the two co-chairs for the New York City Youth Action Board and one of the leads for the Coordinated Community Plan for New York City called Opportunities Start with a Home. I would like to thank the administration for inviting me to be here today and be a voice for homeless youth from New York City today and to continue advocating for youth from New York City. To help ensure that youth experiencing homelessness are properly supported, can get the permanent housing and resources they need, and to make sure our youth in New York City do not retransition into homelessness but are equipped with opportunities to ensure young people continue to strive in their communities today. I was proud to work with the mayor and his team to share my ideas and my story as they develop the Housing and Homelessness Plan released today. And I look forward to working with the Adams Administration and the City of New York to make sure that the voices and lived experiences of youth remain front and center. We must build a youth homelessness system that does not re-traumatize youth experiencing homelessness but that supports their permanence, their well-being, their recovery, while building foundational leaders, advocates, and politicians of tomorrow. And we need to provide permanent housing solutions that are accessible to all and ensure all the needs of youth and young adults are heard and met. This plan begins to address these goals and many others. And I'm excited to see it put into action by the mayor in the months ahead. Thank you. And now I would like to introduce to you Mayor Eric Adams. Thank you. Thank you so much and to all of you who are here in the room joined with my administration. And those of you who have advocated for proper housing for so many years. And you know, I don't know all of your names but some of you I recall throughout my days as a state senator, as about president sending a room and a level of compassion. You know, it's good to see my sister, Alika, is here as well. Erica Keller who built affordable units. And this amazing team that I have assembled, you know, my team is just made up of rock stars. And it's going to take a while before all of this noise that goes on before people start to see the quality of life improve in our city because we're coming from a compassionate place. You know, Gary Jenkins formerly lived in a homeless shelter as a child. That's why he's compassionate. What all of us are bringing to the table is that we're bringing our life stories. I was just on Rikers Island talking to a group of young graduates who graduated with their high school diploma equivalency diplomas and let them know the pathway 72% of them are going to reengage back into education because of what we're doing. The amazing budget that we passed 95% of what the city council members wanted. We were able to pass it because we agreed on it. And we got it done, you know, historically during the Boris, but the budget season, they're protests everywhere. People couldn't protest because we answered the question dyslexia screening vouchers for immigrant families for childcare. What we're doing around victims of crime with many people to ignore. We just continuously carry out our our agenda in spite of all the noise that's going on around us. All the naysayers, you know, what we can't do can't we do we getting it done. And all those get nothing done that have put us in this place is they must get out of the way of us because we are getting it done. And this is a signal of what we're getting done every day. And Deputy Mayor, I notice under your portfolio, you're doing your thing. You know, you're doing your thing. You know, of of Doffville carry on and Commissioner H B D and our amazing Jessica Katz years to what we what we're doing. You just look at my lineup. I have an all star lineup that is changing the lives of New Yorkers, you know, we have an amazing administration. And you know, people with critique one or two people. Why don't you pick him? Why don't you pick him? But if you are honest and you do a real analysis, you're going to walk away saying Eric built a team. A team. That's why we had an early budget. That's why we have the largest amount in our reserves. That's why we're able to do and accomplish the things we're doing. We're building a team. We built an impressive team. Many of people thought we couldn't do it, but we are doing it. And I'm proud of what we are accomplishing and hear from you, Lyndon. You know, your story is a story that we hear far too often for those who experiencing homelessness. And the plan is based on what I observed on the ground, not only as a state senator, not only as a police officer, but also as the ball president and my first month in office. My first month in office as mayor, I went and sat in encampments and tents and talk to people on the ground. No cameras following me. Just talking to everyday people and saying, why are you here? What are your needs and really getting a real feel as I went back to the administration and say, this is the urgency of the moment. And I'm not succumbing to the theory that people are living in a dignified way in a tent on our street with no restroom, no food, no place to take care of themselves. I'm not accepting it. I'm not. And those who want to advocate for that, you keep advocating for that. I'm not advocating for that. I'm advocating for this. This is what I'm advocating for. And housing, can I be a privilege? It's key to living a healthy lifestyle, safe, stable and affordable housing is fundamental to our prosperity. And right now majority of New Yorkers that are living on the street don't have that and don't believe in the system. The average New York City household need to double their income to afford to have an average rent, rentable unit in this city. And these are beautiful apartments. They're beautiful apartments. This rooftop is open to the tenants. This is the type of dignity that we want to give. And last night we like it at 9,000s of children 110,000 children and housing is secure. 1000s of children are living without permanent housing. And the science states that if children are in homeless shelters, they're less likely to graduate from high school. And if you don't graduate, you incarcerate far too many times. That's why we're going upstream to change the way we're doing things. The average homeless family now stays in the shelter for a better part of two years. And COVID-19 made it worse. For too long, we have taken one step forward. And we have taken two steps back over and over again. And Jessica talk talk to talk with me about this throughout the entire campaign. And I was looking forward to getting her on our team and she has really proven to be the dedicated, dedicated, committed expert in this area as we do something that's revolutionary in the area of housing. Today we release Housing Our Neighbor's Blueprint for Housing in Homelessness. And we should do, you can't really understand this if you just look at a Twitter. You got to read this. You know, I know we're in a Twitter generation and everything is a tweet. But you know, just take an opportunity to just read the thoroughness of this report. This is some good, hard work that Jessica, you and your team put together. The roundtables were amazing. Send down and city hall with those who live their life and hear from them. We sat down and we listened to them. And it was a very compassionate, very thorough conversation that came from them. This continual continuation of listening to people is the hallmark of this administration. The plan is the most comprehensive housing plan in New York City history. For the first time, it includes NYCHA. It includes NYCHA. We're gonna, we're going to cover the entire spectrum of New York's housing and not play these games of trying to hide the number. Because if you don't become honest in what the real problem is, you're not going to be honest and producing a real solution. And we spoke to New Yorkers who gave us real impact. And so far too long, we did something that was extremely impressive. When I first sat down with Jessica, we celebrated the signing of the deal. And we thought that was mission accomplished. We did not focus on that we place people in the housing. That is what we need to focus on. Having units since stay, stay empty. It's not solving a problem. And so the celebratory spirit of merely signing a deal is we're moving away from that. No, our success is going to be based on how many people we actually signed, not the deal of building, but signing the lease of putting you inside that apartment. And that's what we want to focus on. Our measurement of success was wrong. We want to look at number one, whether we're building for people at every income level, whether we're reducing the number of rent burden households. And our measurement will focus on people, not just money is often asked, how many units you're going to be, how many units you're going to be, how many units you're going to be. If that is one of the on topic questions you're going to ask me, don't, because I'm not answering that. How many people we're going to put in housing? We need to put people in housing. That's the focus that we are on. Housing our neighbors. That's the point of this plan. It is about units to place people in. It's about New Yorkers, our neighbors that we are focusing on. We're not going to go back to the way things were. We're going to do things differently. Number one, we're going to transform NYCHA as I stated. Big victory for us in Albany with the NYCHA land trust. People said we couldn't do it. Once again, we did it. Huge victory. You were up there camping out. You know, I know your children were happy to see mommy come on. You know, we pulled off something that other administrations attempted to do and they didn't. We did it. That land trust is going to infuse billions of dollars from the federal government that historically abandoned NYCHA and we found the way to get it done and I'm proud of that. We're already delivering much needed resources and we will overhaul NYCHA. Move our chief technology officer is going to move NYCHA into the 21st century by using technology, using dashboards to really monitor the success of NYCHA. And I want this to be a city where people living in NYCHA can get repairs just as quickly if you live in a condominium because NYCHA is a condominium to those who are living there. They deserve the services that others receive. Number two, we're going to make it possible for New Yorkers to own a home again. I mean, we invested in home ownership. The best way to stop displacement through gentrification is allow people to own their homes. We're going to refocus on that, particularly black and brown communities and renters are priced out of the chance to build wealth for their children and grandchildren. That's what it's about. My home on Lafayette Avenue, you know, no, I don't live in Jersey, on Lafayette Avenue is wealth for my son in future generations and that's what we want to do. And I want to put the dream of home ownership back in the hands of working people and remind New Yorkers that leaving this city isn't an option. We have a hemogen of black and brown families leaving New York because it's no longer affordable. We've decimated the middle class and we need to refocus our attention on stabilizing these families and stabilizing the city that they made prosperous. So we're going to significantly expand affordable home ownership opportunities and help communities build and maintain wealth. Number three, we're going to make it easier to get our vulnerable New Yorkers off the street and into housing. We're going to accelerate the creation of supportive housing. The city promises promise to complete 15,000 supportive homes by 2030. We're going to get that done in two years ahead of schedule. We're focused on getting it done and we're going to give safe affordable housing. New York has always been a beacon of life and hope and we're going to continue to do so. So I want to just thank all of our partners, all who have toil in this field for so many years and thought it was not possible. The bugles you were hearing was taps and not the Calvary. Well you know what? We've changed that tune. Now you hear the Calvary. The Calvary is coming and we are going to place New Yorkers into housing. Difficult task, huge task, huge undertaking. We're clear on that and we're not going to always get it right. That's why we're partnering with Norman Segal to put in place a great deal of New Yorkers that are going to be part of our volunteer pool. That's why we're in a subway system talking to people to get them to understand that there's other housing. That's why we have to build more safe haven. We know we have so much to do but one thing for sure one thing we're not going to fail at. We're not going to fail at trying. We will succeed. That is our goal. Thank you very much. Great job Jessica. Thank you Mayor Adams and thank you to Lyndon for sharing your story. This is a significant moment not just because we're releasing the much anticipated housing plan but because this plan goes beyond anything the city has tried to do before. When I first started speaking with the mayor last year he and I were clearly aligned on what needs to happen to make real change. We discussed how we couldn't just do business as usual and expect different results and I want to thank you Mr. Mayor for letting me flip the script. This plan is going to take some work because we're calling for bold structural change. The Adams administration strongly believes that homelessness is a housing issue and that NYCHA cannot remain a side project while we wait for some attention from DC. We must align our different housing related agencies under one plan together if we're going to make the lives of New Yorkers better. But even more than that we're incorporating health and resiliency into our housing strategies because they are critical to helping New Yorkers live in healthy and sustainable homes. That's what this plan is about housing New Yorkers. For the first time we start with NYCHA. The public housing authority has already laid a lot of groundwork but it has never been part of the citywide housing plan. By incorporating it here we're doubling down on our commitment to finally give NYCHA residents the quality of life that they deserve. We're going to introduce programs across NYCHA that we hope to roll out citywide that will become national models. I want to thank Miguel Acevedo and Ms. Darlene Waters, the TA presidents at Fulton houses and Elliott Chelsea and all the members of the resident review committee there. Your hard work and expertise proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that NYCHA residents can and must have a seat at the table when deciding the future of their homes. And because of your dedication today we are proud to say that we are rolling out resident decision making for all NYCHA residents across the city. The blueprint is a testament to our commitment to NYCHA residents. They are going to see the best of the best and alongside the trust which recently passed we are going to finally overhaul our public housing system. I'm so proud to have NYCHA at the heart of this plan as I am that we have our homeless leaders with us today. I will say it again homelessness is a housing problem. To deputy where Williams Isam and the DSS commissioner Gary Jenkins whenever I threw out a potentially crazy idea you responded with yes let's get that done so I'm so grateful to have such amazing partners in government and to all the teams at DSS and HRA and DHS and HPD who have worked incredibly hard on this blueprint. By bringing homelessness into this plan and putting it on equal footing with our housing strategies we're better prepared to ensure that everyone has the services and support they need to stay housed move out of the shelter system gain access to supportive housing or find safer more affordable homes. A lot of the steps we are taking came to light through our conversations with how New Yorkers with lived experience. One new one that I'm excited to reveal here today is for Sarah who's in the crowd. I've got a surprise for you. We're getting rid of the four month rule. That'd be two. So for those of you who don't know what that is there is a industry standard that started out as a myth and became a rule but was maybe never a rule to begin with where New Yorkers must be in the shelter system for four months before they can start the housing application process. There's no reason for that and I want to thank Commissioner Jenkins for jumping on this immediately. Sarah and everyone say goodbye to the four month rule. And the truth is we would have never have known that if it weren't for you all bringing that to our attention. We didn't know it was a myth that was embedded in the shelter system that we needed you all expertise to let us know that. So probably another significant thing in this blueprint is that we're going to finally begin an accurate homeless census. Too often government has tried to get cute with these numbers and not acknowledge the reality of our homeless problem. We've always just looked away and swept it under the rug until now. We also have to keep producing housing. The housing crisis is as much a supply issue as an affordability issue. The team at HDC and HPD at HDC led by their president Eric Enderlin is so critical to making the deals work and finding ways to let our city continue to produce housing. Eric you've been a colleague and a friend and a mentor over the years and I'm honored to continue working with you. We now have the largest capital commitment in history to work with thanks to the mayor's $22 billion in funding for our housing stock over the next 10 years. We will ensure that we're able to maintain production levels despite rising interest rates and global supply chains and every other global crisis that the world throws at us. But beyond that we need to preserve our existing housing stock expand opportunities for home ownership and ensure that we are building a more equitable city. This is particularly important to giving MWBEs a fair bite at the apple. So important to any and all of this work is ensuring that when we are building or preserving housing that families homes are safe and stable for them to live. From fires to lead or asthma we must protect New Yorkers in their homes. And if landlords are not providing quality housing conditions we will proactively enforce the law and hold them accountable. Tenant protections are critical beyond the safe conditions in their housing the access to housing without source of income discrimination or other legal violations that limit their ability to safely live and stay housed. We're putting people on notice. Everyone knows we have a housing shortage so it's important that we keep our current housing stock safe today and into the future as well. And we're also facing a changing climate. That's not up for debate. And New York City is out front building a more resilient and sustainable city. That means being clear that housing is a climate issue and climate change is a housing issue. We're going to work with our partners to put out housing on a pathway to meet our city's ambitious decarbonization goals. Everything I've laid out cannot be successful unless we tackle the administrative burdens that are in our systems. Too often government requires unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles that means we are failing the very people our programs are meant to serve or re traumatizing them again in the name of paperwork. That means reorienting our processes to serve New Yorkers so they can access housing. There are going to be some quick wins like eliminating a form here and there but there are going to be longer term interagency cooperation efforts that will take time if we can make our government work for New Yorkers. It will truly be life changing for so many of our neighbors. I'm excited about this blueprint it's been an exhausting effort with countless partners, advocates, government peers, homeless New Yorkers, and NYCHA residents. I really want to thank the government leaders who joined us here today. There are many of you and even more staffers behind you who have dedicated their lives to this work. And on my team I need a huge round of applause for Sheena Kong who corraled every person idea budget ask into everything. Jasmine Blake my indiminable chief of staff who kept all the wheels turning. Taken names. And this is just the start. We have a lot of work ahead but we have a real path to changing how the housing works in the city. I want to acknowledge where we are today. 90 Sands is a hotel that after a long and expensive land use process will soon provide supportive services and housing for hundreds of New Yorkers. So thank you to Breaking Ground for hosting us here today and I hope we see a few more vacant hotels become housing soon. And I look forward to implementing it all alongside my partner and my friend at City Hall. Our next speaker deputy mayor for health and human services and Williams Isom. I thought that was the end. It's hot out here. You got your sunglasses. I don't want to wrinkle. So I got to hurry up. Right. It's hot out here. I was thinking about why I'm so happy to be here today. And it usually does go back to a personal story. When my mother came here from Trinidad and Tobago she came by herself and my father was there. And when he came here she very quickly became a victim of domestic violence. And we know that a majority of folks who end up in homeless shelters families it's because of domestic violence. And I say to myself how did that not happen to my brothers and myself? And it was because of two reasons because my mom had a job. She had a livable wage and she was able to get a house in Springfield Gardens Queens a small modest house where we lived and where we were able to stay together and get a great education. So this day is so important because that's what we want for all New Yorkers to be able to have an affordable place and where they can live and be able to raise their family. I want to thank the mayor he called us all stars but you know why we're all stars? Because he's a great manager and because he is our leader. It is so important to have a leader that is clear about their North Star so that you just know what you need to do. From day one he said that that was not okay to have people living on the streets and that was not dignified we didn't have to worry then about is this right? What are we going to hear in the newspapers? What's going to be the drama? He told us to don't forget about all of the chatter and to focus on what we need to do. So thank you Mayor Adams for your clarity and for your commitment to this issue. Jessica Katz is both brilliant and compassionate. Do you know how important that is? She is my sister in this work and I just want to thank you Jessica for all that you do and for your fabulous team that put us here. Gary Jenkins we've said enough about you already you and your crew but without Gary without Ashwin without all of the people in the human services on portfolio we wouldn't be able to do this work. So you're saying why is the deputy mayor for health and human services at a housing plan announcement? And it's very simple and we set it over and over again. Homelessness is a housing problem so it has to be homelessness has to be cured with housing. That's why I'm here today. Whether you're experiencing homelessness struggling to afford or keep your home this plan puts concrete steps forward towards that. It's what the mayor promised and the mayor is delivering every day on the promises he has made. Every New Yorker deserves a permanent home and today's today's announcement is another step in that direction. Thank you all so much. Next up I have to applaud the HPD team for all of your work. Many of you have been through this housing plan routine before as have I so I'm really grateful for your dedication even when we throw a few curveballs your way. And it wouldn't be a citywide housing plan without HPD and of course the amazing Commissioner Adolfo Carriam. Thank you Jessica Mr. Mayor friends and colleagues everything that can be said has been said but not by everyone. So I'm going to go line by line in the plan so put on your sun hats and your sun block. You know I remember when the mayor announced our our appointments Jessica and I shared that this is very personal to me just like Deputy Mayor Williams Isom. You know my my family was the beneficiary of important investments in the poor and working families of New York City. And I was born on South Second Street in Williamsburg in a subbasement of a of a tenement and um my parents had just come to to New York City from Puerto Rico. You've heard me tell this story and they were born in your borough Mr. Mayor. And we got a chance to move to Jacob Reese houses. We won the lottery chairman and we were going to waterfront housing by the FDR drive but it was public housing that gave us an opportunity and a few years later to move on up to a HUD assisted limited equity co-op on 12th Street and Avenue C in Loicita and then we got an FHA mortgage to buy a $28,000 row house up in the country in the North Bronx. And that set our family on a trajectory that we owe the next generation. So it is very personal. The team at HPD is amazing. Jessica's right. These folks have been through this drill several times at HDC with Eric and the team there. They've seen this but this time it's different. Think about the fact that we're wrapping arms our arms around the entire housing ecosystem because the mayor understands and this team understands one thing that housing that a home is a fundamental building block for a family and the prospects for the future for that family whether or not they enter into the economy or enter into the criminal justice system whether or not they get a career or they get stuck somewhere just barely surviving. So the work that we're doing is phenomenally important and I'm so glad to be able to work with such great partners in government. And I'll leave you with this thought. Do you remember of Fred Baker or popularly you know as Sam Breakstone? The older folks do, right? It's time to make the donuts. Let's go. We're gonna get to work. I want everybody who's here from HPD to just raise your hand and wave. Hello HPD ears. We're gonna rock this. Love you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Jessica. I want to give a shout out to our HUD Regional Administrator, my friend and the amazing Alika Ampre-Samuel is here. Thank you so much for coming and being so supportive of this plan. And finally, to the NYCHA team who's working so tirelessly to turn around that agency and restore a quality of life that the residents deserve. I want to acknowledge the work that you've already done and amazing work getting the Public Housing Trust passed through the state legislature and I look forward to accomplishing much more together alongside the NYCHA Chair and CEO Greg Russ. It is a great privilege to be here. I want to thank Jessica. I want to thank the Mayor for wrapping their arms around the housing plan because if you look around in this view, you can see at least 10 different NYCHA properties. So we are in this city and with the trust bill which was supported supported wholeheartedly by the Mayor and Jessica and their team, think about this. You invest in an entire community. You invest in the unit that's an investment in that family and that gives them an opportunity that does not exist when that housing is compromised and that's a polite word for it. So we have to rebuild these buildings. We have to preserve every unit and that's the goal and we have to restructure NYCHA and that's our goal. I'm very thankful to have the opportunity to work with the city team and to have the support that we had both in putting the plan together and also getting the job done in Albany. So thank you very much. 8.8 million people in the city 30 million opinions those families and individuals that were living on the street they were living on the street before I became mayor if that compassion was real that they were talking about they had 50 years to solve it I had five months to say there's nothing dignified about living on the streets we're going to continue to send that message clarity as we stated of my north star and you know there are a lot of opinions Norman Siegel called me and said we believe there's a better way to do it I said okay Norman you think it's a better way to do it put the team together and join us in doing it he says yes I will so all those advocates that are saying that to you tell them come join us on the streets because we're on the streets we're not sitting back in the classroom with a philosophical theory but people are living on the street out streets our neighbors come join us on the street because that's how we roll we roll on the streets to get the job done yes how are you doing getting such a tan when you sat down at the round table with the participants so two things number one they had some real ideas real ideas like the four months rule you know those are real ideas and they kept producing real ideas that was amazing number two they're no different than me these are everyday New Yorkers that have fallen on hard times and you know sometimes people think that you know these are well they don't want to rug well they're this they're that no no no all just about everyone in my administration telling these stories we were all one one step away from homelessness and so as I walked away from the room going in hearing the constant complaints of what we're trying to do they fortified me and said listen you you're in the right track brother ignore all those people you know you know the advocates are not the people living in penthouses they're people who are living intense and those are the advocates we're gonna live listen to life I learned that idealism collides with realism and there are people who are living on the street right now that are dealing with mental health illnesses based on something that I have communicated with that can't make those decisions and so we're not going to tell people they can't live on the streets because they have a constitutional right there's nothing we can do about that but you can't build tents you can't build encampments you can't and we're going to give them options we're going to speak with them and people said name when we we did the the transit encampment enforcement first week 22 people everyone said we were a failure but we were consistent we went from 23 people to I believe around 1300 people that we put into safe havens and so we know we have to build trust we know we have to keep talking to people it may start with bringing my pair of socks some underclothes something to eat a hot cup of coffee we're going to be consistent and rebuild that trust but one thing I'm not going to do I'm not allowing New Yorkers to live on the streets and camps I'm not going to do that but they still are so in their asking for housing could you give them housing that's exactly what we're doing and we're going to keep doing it until we run out of space and then we're going to build now let me tell you we're building equates that many of you are not asking over and over again to some of the loudest loudest voices for put people in housing Eric you're wrong we'll protest you put people in housing okay we will I'm gonna put it on your block oh wait a minute we didn't say that you know what I'm saying you know we want to house it but you know don't put it on my block so I want you to go to all the the advocates go to all those who are making the elected decisions and say who's going to raise their hands first to allow Eric to build the housing that he wants to do on their block so you can't talk to talk if you're not going to walk to walk I will have housing on my block on the corner of Lafayette and Lewis we have a location for uh ready willing and able and when people attempted to boycott them I said no you won't we are going to talk and live what we say so go pool all the people who are saying they tell them to give me the address of their block and we'll find a location for them until then I ignore them how you doing you haven't done nothing around a lot okay one of the most important things I learned from Jessica is that we were focusing on these high numbers and not how many people we place in apartments that is our metrics how many people we place in the apartments how many people we place in housing how well we do in partner with uh of housing in NYCHA to turn around the amount of time it takes to complete a ticket the amount of time to repair we want to we want to focus on the finished product not the pathway to that finished product as many as possible we're going to do as much as we can for low and middle income housing we often abandon middle income housing and we need to stop doing that and we're going to do as much as we can for low and middle income housing Mr. Mayor I have two questions one is sort of a follow-up on David I don't need the same answer okay I'm going to ask it anyway okay there was a New York Times article today about what Houston has done and they've made you know really impressive strives in removing homeless and reducing homelessness and it's predicated on a housing first model so similar to what David was saying they're able to convince people to stop living in encampments because they're saying you don't have to go to a shelter you don't have to accept AA treatment drug treatments we're going to give you an apartment or a house I'm wondering does the city have enough money enough political will and I'm going to Jessica I'm moving I'm going to call the mayor good friend of mine Turner in Houston I would like to go visit him but whenever I lead the city to see great projects you all write stories why is Eric away for a day you know but you know that's part of the noise you know but uh I'm going to call my mayor my friend in Houston because mayors are going to make these tough decisions and I'm going to look at that and if I could possibly sneak out without you knowing it I would like to go down and actually see the project to see what he's doing but I read the article this morning I was extremely impressed and there's going to be a combination of things we're going to have to do and we're going to learn from others Jessica you want to answer sure I'll just add that article was very inspiring and it was predicated on a housing first approach which New York City has always laid claim to we always say we have a housing first approach it's something that we believe but in actual practice we end up with a paperwork first approach and so that's why we have this real focus in the plan on administrative burdens so we can achieve something closer to that where we're housing people more quickly rather than screening people over and over again and asking them for forms before we can move them into the housing you know what else is important getting people in housing and keeping them in housing you know if you don't to get a house and then find yourself back in the shelter system is we failed so you want to get people in housing and keep them in housing by giving them the wrap around services the information how to you know actually live in a house financial literacy there's a lot of things we need to do to make sure we get you in a house and you can stay in a house because we failed them if we don't so is there an educational component to all of this to help people understand how you get a mortgage or how you take advantage of government programs harder to build out you're dead you're dead right the number of people who get into housing and lose their housing we we need to really lean into that number but yes we want to make sure our providers we want them to step up and doing more than providing them as a space as a place people need to know how to balance the checkbook how to pay the rent you know all of these things are important to stay into housing you know it so Mr. Mayor your Deputy Mayor your housing chief have said that there's a housing shortage in the city which is contributing to all these underlying ailments the city created like 700,000 jobs over the last decade and built just 200,000 new units of housing you said you don't want to give a number but what is a successful number for actually putting a dent in the overall housing shortage as many people as possible to get in housing is it 30,000? no no no as many people as possible to get into housing if you say 30,000 and you have 50,000 out of homeless then what success is that? I got 20,000 people that are not so I'm not at this magic number I'm going to get as many people in my four years to get into housing as possible and I'm not playing these numbers of what is this number no everyone needs to find housing those are my goals sure but if the overall housing production level is what the overall housing production level is and if you say the way to fix it is to improve that what is improving that look like what is the number we can judge you against? as many people as possible to get into housing as many people as possible to get into housing you're going to quickly ask folks that are sitting to step aside for a moment because they want to do off topic and I don't want I don't want you to go through this it's how compassionate I am thank you so much man thank you yeah man it's great yes thank you miss mayer uh we've reported in the past two days about the deputy eoc commissioner on security operations Ronald Reverend Tong he came to light in order reporting that he was under investigation for sexual harassment misuse of funds on the type of misconduct that is previous most at the state eoc were you and commissioner Molina aware of his history before his appointment last month and do you think it's appropriate for him to serve in this role given that he was promoted twice in the state after those allegations twice we have a vetting process that's underway and I have full confidence in uh commissioner Molina I was on rikings today I'm really impressed and you're going to see some good stuff that we're doing there but he was he was he's going through our vetting process and I trust commissioner Molina to get the job done so you were aware of that history before he was appointed uh I don't recall saying that but I'm just trying to do the clarification because that's my question okay well I could understand your clarification but I answered the question um he is a now vetting process and I trust commissioner Molina