 Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Maria Torres-Springer. I'm one of Mayor Adam's deputy mayors Thanks to all of you for joining us here today in the Gowanus. So why are we here? In 2021, after a decade of community discussion, the New York City Council approved the rezoning of this area, paving the way for more than 8,000 new apartments, including nearly 3,000 affordable homes. And projects like the one that would be built on this site, which is hundreds of units of affordable housing, however, are in jeopardy. They're in jeopardy because we need action in Albany, and that is what we are here to discuss. We need bold action because New York City, as everyone here knows, is in the midst of a dire housing crisis. Over half of all New York renters are rent burden, and there is less than a 1% vacancy rate for the most affordable apartments, while tens of thousands of individuals and families slept in our shelters last night. So this shortage of affordable housing has very real human consequences, but let me be clear, we don't need to accept these conditions. And from day one, the mayor has been crystal clear that we need to tackle the crisis with the full force of city government, but we can't do it alone. And so to talk more about the partnership and the help and the action that we need, please join me in welcoming the mayor of New York City, Eric Adams. Thank you so much, Deputy Mayor, and for all of our union members who are here. When we talk about housing, often times, people forget about the fact that the people who built, people who maintain it, people who are very much part of the advocacy to move these important pieces of legislation forward is missing. You know, I don't know if people realize I love all the sounds of New York, you know. It's the combination of voices that makes this job so exciting. But we have to keep it moving in spite of any distractions because when you look at Local 79, 32BJ, HTC, DC 37, these are long-standing New Yorkers that don't only yell about it, they build about it, they are about it, and they are the voices that I hear every day. So I want to thank you. Deputy Mayor, I'm excited about the mission that you're going to be taking upon and look at the real vision of housing and how do we really expand on that. And today, here in Brooklyn, we're standing with these labor leaders because these are real projects that we can move forward. Housing experts are here, colleagues, elected officials that just understand that in order to build housing, there are various things that must take place in Albany. It's unfortunate that New York City must respond to what happens as state lawmakers. And if that step fails to take place, then we're never going to reach the point where New Yorkers are able to put a key in a lock and go inside and experience the American dream. We need action now to get the affordable housing that we're looking for. We're days away from the completion of the legislative session. And we think that it's imperative that we move forward and get this done. So the time is waiting. It's over. We need lawmakers now to respond now and we need to pass the housing package. This is a crucial housing package that needs to be responded to do. So it's important to not kick the can down the road. We can't wait and say, let's wait for another session. The urgency is now to build the pipeline. Between the rising rents that we have, the shrinking inventory, and a total slowdown in construction. It's unbelievable when you think about how much the construction projects have stopped for the most part. And we need to build to get these projects done. Even as a number of people needing houses continue to grow, particularly median income New Yorkers, we're seeing a dramatically increased in the desire, but a decrease in the number of units. So we're seeing more and more work in the middle class family, especially in communities of color, get priced out of their neighborhoods because we're failing to get these projects off the ground. So the site behind me, we picked the site intentionally. It has already been approved for housing that includes deeply affordable apartments. But this project is only a feasible with 421A, the affordable housing incentive program. And if we don't get the deadline extended, these units in thousand of affordable homes around the city are at risk of not getting built. We are all affected by this. This is not, there's not enough affordable housing for our families, our employees, our teachers, and the men and women who we are standing with here today. New Yorkers who want a place to live and be part of the American dream. We need the legislators to take action, and we need it now. Only a few days that are left, and Albany must pass complete housing package that we put before them. They must offer tax incentives that will facilitate construction of new affordable housing. It is so important and make regulatory changes that will make it easier to convert unused office space to housing. We have millions of square feet of unused office spaces that is right now ready to be converted into housing. This just makes sense. This straightforward measure will jumpstart the process of creating more affordable housing. And we must go all out to ensure this opportunity is not wasted. And so I want to thank those lawmakers who are working with us. Some of them are standing here now. Some of them have gone to Albany to try to push this through. Our goal is to get this done during this section. And I am no longer as a state senator, so I can't vote on this. But there are partners out there that are clearly willing to stand up for what is right. And you should know that this administration and all of the leaders here today stand behind you as we articulate and get these bills to the floor so the governor can sign them. So I urge all New Yorkers. Thank you. Thank you. There's nothing better than a good chant coming from you, your members. There is a website called Who Represents Me NYC. You can put in your address and get contact information for all of your elected representatives. We need them to call. We need to write. We need to email your assembly members and your state senators and tell them you want to action on affordable housing now. Not next year, but as we just stated now, our city must have places for our children to live, to grow as we deal with the increase of housing issues, asylum seekers issues. It all comes down to the ability to have the right housing that we need. And we can do this. We can stand up to the needs of our constituency. This is Albany's moment. We need a good housing plan coming out of Albany. If we don't, we are going to devastate the pipeline that is needed to build housing for the future for funeral generations. So again, I want to thank all of our partners who are here who really understand how imperative it is for Albany to move these next few days. The deputy mayor had a team of with into a government to affairs personnel. They went to Albany. We've been in deep conversations. We have been leaning and pushing in this direction. This is so important to the finalization of housing for people without Albany's Albany's help. This is going to devastate our pipeline for housing in the future. Again, thank you so much for being a part of this. Thank you, Mayor. As the mayor mentioned, a team of us, including our chief housing officer, Jessica Katz, were in Albany just earlier in the week following a number of visits throughout the session, pushing for progress on building more housing, on paving the way for more affordable housing, which certainly our chief housing officer has done from day one. And so to share a few words, our CHO, Jessica Katz. The session hearing, it was going to be a housing session. We heard that from every corner. Last fall and winter, every elected official in Albany I spoke to told me, this is our year. Well, the session isn't over, so I'm holding them to their promise. We have just over a week left. Let's get it done. I want to thank our friends in labor from 32BJ. We have justice from local 79 to our housing advocates, such as New York Housing Conference, Open New York, and Isafa. Thank you to Medadna Construction for hosting us today. We have local community leaders. Community Board 6 passed a ULURP to build housing at this specific site. We have district manager from CB6, Mike Restiopo is here. And now we're not going to be able to do that because Albany is standing in the way. So we need our legislators to hear us all the way up in Albany that New York City will not settle for broken promises. We heard the Get Stuff Done administration and we know the ball is in your court, but you need to deliver for your constituents. They're our neighbors. We owe them the opportunity to have safe, stable, and affordable homes in the communities they love. Everyone keeps saying there is no silver bullet for solving our housing crisis. There is though, it's housing. So let me be clear, extending the construction completion of 421A, allowing office buildings to convert to housing and lifting the FAR cap for residential buildings, is a silver bullet for the family that gets a new home. It is a silver bullet for the community that is revitalized when a vacant building or a vacant site is brought back to life. The economic activity of housing conversion is a silver bullet for our city that's coming back from COVID. And for the almost 15,000 New Yorkers who are experiencing homeless who have that golden ticket voucher in their hands right now and are looking for a place to live and finding none, building more housing is a silver bullet. This isn't an abstract idea, it's not a slogan. These policies mean new homes, new jobs, new revenue for the city, and more. They're critical tools for the thousands of New Yorkers who are in the shelter system. And we need everyone who's here today to stay vigilant between now and the end of the Albany session. If you're a city official, call your state colleagues. If you're an advocate, call your elected officials. We cannot go home without giving New Yorkers a pathway to finally find their own home. Thank you. Thank you, Jessica. As the mayor said earlier, this is certainly about creating new homes, creating more affordable homes. But let's also be clear, this is about providing good paying job opportunities for New Yorkers. And so our next two speakers will hopefully speak to that and have been extraordinary partners in really making sure that the session does not end without action on these proposals. So please first join me in welcoming Manny Pastrish from 32BJ. 32BJ! 32BJ! 32BJ! 32BJ! Alright, good afternoon everyone. I am so thrilled to be out here in Brooklyn, your home borough, and join forces on the extension of 421A. As President of 32BJ, I fully appreciate what a critical tool this program has been to addressing the city's housing needs as well as the Deputy Mayor said, creating good jobs. But you don't need to be the leader of a union to understand the 421A's importance. You need to only look at the drop-off in housing after this program has ended. The numbers are stark. In the last fiscal year, we have 13,000 less affordable housing units created than the year before and we're off to a slow start this year as well. We obviously need to be building more affordable housing at this moment, not less. The city's housing crisis is getting worse, so this is the moment we need to embrace the programs that have been shown to work. We need to embrace the programs that get housing built. We need to embrace programs that get affordable housing built and we need to embrace programs that create family sustaining jobs. And I don't want this last point to get lost. Jobs are not always on the top of the mind when we talk about the housing affordability crisis. But make no mistake, this is a vital part of the conversation. We are standing in front of a future site that will employ 32BJ members and that means creating family sustaining jobs with good wages and strong benefits. And that's something we cannot afford to lose sight of. We have the opportunity to connect good jobs and good housing policy. The 421A program has created thousands of prevailing wave jobs with meaningful benefits, jobs that build up our communities. And when we contrast that with no jobs or minimum wage jobs with few if any benefits, the choice is very, very clear. 32BJ members are a testament to what works in this program. We have thousands of our members who live in 421A buildings. And without that affordability requirements, they couldn't afford to live in the city. They couldn't afford to live near where they work. This is a win-win that we need to build on. This is a program that meets the definition of success, success in creating affordable housing, success in encouraging more housing, getting built, and success at creating good jobs. That's the definition of success, so we need to do more of it. With Albany's legislative session ending in a week, now is the time to do it. Now is the time to build more power, more housing. Are we ready? Build more housing now. Build more housing now. Build more housing now. Build more housing now. Build more housing now. All right, I just want to finish by thanking you for your leadership. Our mayor and to this entire group, together we can make this happen. Ready? 32BJ! All right, thank you. Thank you, Manny, and to add his voice on behalf of his members, please join me in welcoming Mike Maguire from The Laborers. Good afternoon. So supply and demand. It's a phrase that everybody knows. It's the basic tenet of microeconomics and it's a pretty simple concept to grasp. Demand drives prices, lack of supply drives up demand, therefore lack of supply leads to increased housing costs. And us as New Yorkers, we love to complain about the high cost of housing, but you know what else New Yorkers like to complain about? The construction of affordable housing. This hypocrisy is one of the driving forces behind the high cost of housing in New York. This year, Governor Hockel proposed an extension of the 421A from 2026 to 2030 for ongoing developments to encourage builders to create 100,000 affordable homes. The mayor supports this concept, so do many common-sense legislators, advocates, and everyone in attendance here today. The extension does not grant the abatement to any more developers. It simply extends the required completion dates for projects already in the program. In the wake of the pandemic that upended our economic system and interest rates at their highest point in 22 years, such an extension isn't outrageous. It isn't even extraordinary. What it is is a necessity. Yet we have rampant nimbyism from some hypocrites who say housing is too expensive out of one side of their mouths and not in my backyard out of the other side. We have a pie in the sky legislators who support work from home apparently thinking that the city's tax revenue grows on trees. We have other New York legislators acting like they're republicans in Washington fighting the debt limit increase by holding this necessary legislation hostage to push their own personal pet agendas. We have an onerous and antiquated land use process. We have overly restrictive zoning maps, and we have an extreme overuse of designating historical districts. I mean, come on, there's literally seven historical districts on the upper east side alone. This is just absurd. All of this is to say that if we're going to get out of this housing crisis the only way to do it is build our way out of it. Instead of throwing up roadblocks at every turn these New Yorkers should be embracing the construction of new units. Yet a proposal like this that merely extends the existing programs completion dates is met with opposition and derision instead of being supported and promoted for what it will do. Create more units of affordable housing in New York City without doing any harm. Supply and demand. Supply increases demand decreases. Housing becomes more affordable. Basic freshman economics. We salute Governor Hockel, the members of the legislature who support this extension, the members of the City Council will understand that new development is the only way we'll be able to work our way out of the housing crisis and Mayor Adams for his courage in pushing in this unnecessarily divisive issue to the front of the debate. We call on the state legislature to approve extending the completion deadline for 420-way projects as well as the conversion of commercial office buildings to residential housing and raising floor area ratios where appropriate in order to take positive steps towards ending the housing crisis before this legislation legislative session ends this week. Thank you. Thank you, Mike. So the inaction in Albany, it doesn't just freeze projects like what could be built on this site. I think it also dishonors what has been for many different neighborhoods years and years of community discussion and community engagement. And so for the Gowanus rezoning the the result and fruit of that type of discussion all those efforts too are at stake and are in jeopardy. And so to talk more about this I'm sure Mike Raciopo, the district manager for CB6. Thank you. My name is Mike Raciopo, district manager of CB6. Two years ago we stood with at the time borough president and then I think he was nominee at that yeah nominee at that point and Comptroller-Elect Lander and we were at the Gowanus community center and we stood there to support this rezoning because all aspects of government have to do their part. The community board we did our part in a wealthy area we supported this rezoning mainly the biggest reason was affordable housing. Now the other parts of government have to do their part the other levels of government have to do their part and I'm proud to stand here with Mayor Adams and the we've had 32 B.J. at the present at CB6 during the rezoning process they were certainly the labor component was a big part of why we supported the rezoning and to create and build the affordable housing in areas such as this with great public transportation and at the community level we supported and all but he should do their part. And that's really all. Thank you. That is perfect thank you Mike and finally I'd like to invite council member Julie Menin to share a few words of course the city council has been and always will be a critical partner in the first year of the administration together we approved through the land use process more units than in a very long time and so that partnership should continue and want to invite the amazing council member Julie Menin to share a few words. Thank you thank you so much I'm thrilled to be here today with the mayor and all of our friends and labor 32 B.J. local 79 HTC and I'm here today because one of the number one issues that I hear from constituents is a lack of affordable housing. Recent polling has shown that 27 percent of New Yorkers say they plan to leave the city in the next five years and one of the top issues that they cite is lack of affordability and that's lack of affordable housing. Right now the average rent in Manhattan is over four thousand dollars a month. Four thousand dollars a month it's unsustainable. The average childcare expense is 21 thousand dollars. We can't continue down this path. In my district we've actually had no MIH affordable housing built and so we need to change that and that is why I'm here today in solidarity with this coalition. Thank you thank you I just think the the imperativeness is clear the continuation of this plan is something that the chief housing officer Jessica Katz has rolled out and really spent so much time up in Albany. I'm sure if you google her address it probably will show you an Albany address. She's been up there so much trying to fight on this issue knowing how imperative it is to do housing. This is part of our overall plan including NYCHA in our housing and including how do we renovate some of the units it's just an overall plan the missing piece is playing out right now the table is set it's now time for Albany to serve the right meal and that right meal is a combined housing plan that we can do the building that's that's needed. So why don't we open up to a few questions we do some hot topics but keep your mind is hot out here so I'm not going to be here a long We have been continue to use every tool that we have at the city level and but we need either the extension or replacement for 421a. It's really that simple any other tool is imperfect it doesn't get us there it will waste too much time and the crisis that we're facing is a real one and it has gone unabated so while we'll use every tool we need a version of 421a or the extension in order to keep projects like the one that would be built on this site moving. If you take a look at all the different parts of the housing bills that you're asking for it's approximately a hundred thousand units of housing that will be able to be built I'm wondering if you got these 100,000 units of housing what that would do in terms of helping the homeless get out of shelters and use their vouchers and also helping with the migrant problem that we seem to be drowning in the city as we're drowning in. Right nothing as it was mentioned as local 79 indicated that there is almost this hypocrisy that in one end we are stating let's place people into housing and then in another place number one don't build in my district or community and number two we're going to hold up the housing process and the legislation that's needed the first order of business that we must all define that we have a crisis we have a housing crisis and if we're not on that same page there is not a luxury of let's wait and this is going to help us and other plans we're doing some of the things that the chief housing officer rolled out of getting people into those available units some of the creative ways we're going to do it but everyone must face the crises that we are facing every poll is showing that is a top number one or number two issue housing public safety and housing public safety and housing and you know not getting those hundred thousand units is really going to impede our 500,000 moonshot that we're reaching for we have to build housing the supply is not meeting the demand Hi Mr. Mayor, good how are you? Speaker Hasty said yesterday that basically there's not enough time sessions supposed to end on June 8th wondering do you blame Governor Hockel for not getting a lot of this done in the budget for taking it out knowing that at the end of session lawmakers kind of don't want to tackle something as complex as what you guys are asking for? We're all in this together we are responsible for producing a plan and that's what the team did lawmakers are now responsible for looking at it the governor is responsible for signing all of us are in this together if it fails we fail and so pointing the fingers at that is not the way to point people in the right direction to get housing and so we're in this together this New York is a team sport we've done our job we presented the right legislation and now we're hoping that the lawmakers use the next couple of days to really solidify what we presented whatever needs to be done to get this done i'm willing to do it he just explained briefly the status of this particular site and you know did it qualify for 421a and because of the expiration stall but what exactly is this that happened yeah we can we can follow up offline unless you yeah we'll get it back yeah i'm easy i'm so low maintenance second part of my question okay what effect if you were to get this 100,000 units what effect will it have on the twin crisis of the homeless in new york city and the migrants well the at the end of the rainbow is a place to live whatever barrier is in that way is going to impact those who are looking for a place to live not only the migrants not only the 40 something thousand people who are living you know in our shelters but those who are coming home from college that are looking for places to stay those who are moving to the city so everyone on this side of the wall is going to be impacted by what is going to happen on the other side of the wall everyone will be impacted difficult to deal with these two crises well number one i think one of the most important things we can do is hire you as one of our lobbyists because we've been saying that over and over again so you know sometimes people listen to you so we would love for you to come up and you know help elevate with jessica and the team and tiffany and the team of what we have been doing but you're right it is a logjam that we must make sure that it does not stop us from building units when shovels in the ground so we're going to ask folks you guys to kind of step off the side where you're taking thank you thank you all you'll do a few few off-topics all right good job good job what's going on dana uh listen uh commissioner melina uh has been an amazing commissioner when you look at the numbers when you look at the number of of violent actions on on righteous people i remember when i inherited this uh when i pulled in commissioner melina we were having a substantial number of people who were out sick not coming to work all of you were talking about it you were all writing these stories about the violence writing these stories about all of these issues melina has turned it around and uh i support him to do the job i hired him to do and whatever methods he need to do it within the boundaries of not violating any laws of rights of people i support i guess i'm wondering if you were bothered by the department of correction was just not sharing the details about some of these really serious incidents well first of all i will be responding to that report there are clear items that the commissioner is supposed to report on they're very clear and when i sat down and did my review there was not one item on that list he was required to be to report on not one that was not put in the report it was put just the opposite and so i'm going to uh respond to what i believe is happening um with how this oversight is taking place he did not violate any of the rules on what he was supposed to report on not one item not one but if you would have read the report you would have thought just the opposite so i think there's something else going on with this relationship that we're having and i have been extremely restraint uh but that level of patience is running out Mr Mayor i have a two-part question yesterday your budget director uh said that of the new tranche of federal money of 800 million the city's only expected to get through 30 and 40 million dollars which is really a drop in the budget and last week he said that he thought that there was going to be at least another billion dollar of people in expenses because of the increase of the budget and i wonder how that you're going to address that in the budget negotiations with the city council and whether this ongoing discussion about migrants could delay the budget because you need more money to be directed for this problem and that's the that is the job of a job gi who has done a an amazing job navigating us out of this budget crisis uh and i'm still here in city council members every day calling for more spending more spending you know spend more millions here more millions here i'm just not quite understanding do you know folks understand the basic level of accounting you spend what you take in and uh we have to balance a budget that dropped us with a 4.3 billion dollar price tag out of nowhere uh we only received a look to see 30 to 40 million dollars from the 800 million dollars that uh senator schumer hockey jeffries and the other delegation leaders were able to get and we have to also make sure we provide the services to the city and so of you know we we have to balance the budget that's what the law calls for we're going to do that it's going to be painful i've said this over and over again this is not new we could just go back to the tapes every service in the city is going to be impacted by this asylum and migrant crises that we are facing i hope not i'm hoping that the city council realized that they realized the urgency that we can't make the mistake that we witnessed in washington uh with the depth ceiling it is imperative that we get a budget done you know i know primary elections are coming up but we cannot put politics in the way we are ready the negotiations should start now immediately because it takes time to do this we are ready we want to sit down with our council colleagues and hammer out a budget for the people of this city asking for more money for the migrants from here for the feds and the state but you're going to be asking the feds for more money yes but you're going to be asking the city council to allocate more money to the problems you're facing with housing the migrants well the the allocations of dollars i think that you know hopefully they will look at some of their discretionary dollars to assist us but the budget is determined by the executive branch and they vote on that budget we're going to show them the money that we need to we believe we need to allocate to deal with this problem um i'll put more just question did fema notify your administration that localities are only able to receive 10 percent of this next group of money because again just as your budget director said as you had said in the previous months uh the administration did anticipate a lion's share of this you know federal pot of money so you know what happened there when and when did fema disclose this information to you guys well we didn't think the lion's share was going to turn into a cup you know the amount of money that we receive is i think is embarrassing to what this city has been handling and then to add to it Bernadette just think about this for a moment the bordering states some receive more than us they're using the money to bust people to new york i mean that can't even be logical and so i don't know where the rule has come about for this 10 percent of i'm not aware of that and they if they notified notified our budget director that was not shared with me so i don't know where the 10 percent rule comes from but we need to re-examine how the money is used which is very important and we should have it proportionate to the number of migrants that are in the city of that is being impacted the blueprint for just about all of the bordering states is when migrants asylum seekers come inside their their municipality send them to new york chicago washington and uh look like los angeles is now on the list let's keep going uh good to see mr. mayor thank you uh on the dc 37 flexible work agreement i know you've had some strong words in the past about working from home you said you can't stay home in your pajamas now you have this agreement with dc 37 what would you say is behind the evolution here well first of all you can't stay home in your pajamas it's not a strong statement of you know the the health officials are shown loneliness is like smoking several packs of cigarettes a day and i don't think many of us realize that some of the practices that we participated in after covid how it was impacted on our health issues you know how it was impacting in so many ways look i'm a seven day a week guy and how i believe it's not for everyone and i'm not so rigid that i'm not willing to sit down and figure out how do we reach the goals that we want and there's some clear criterias that we put in place that we announce our flexibility and rogue schedule this for you dc 37 members uh it has to be a job that could be done remotely because as you know that every job could be done remotely uh and there's some other items that we pointed out that the team will really go over uh to safeguard this but it has to be about how do we get our city up and operating and i'm willing to sit down him and garydo has been an amazing partner on so many levels and if he wants to sit down and figure out how do we deal with the employment part by bringing for flexibility i'm willing to do so you know like i'm i'm just low maintenance man i'm not i'm the easiest person to deal with