NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams addressed the Big Apple’s rapidly rising cost of living and offered a few recommendations she said would help buck the unfavorable trend.
In her annual State of the City speech on Wednesday, the Speaker, whose Democratic Council majority has been at odds with Mayor Adams on issues of budget and policy in recent months, did not directly point the finger at Hizzoner for the city’s problems. However, she asserted that during Adams’ two years in office, the municipal workforce and social safety net have been undermined, drawing a connection between that and problems with housing, health care, childcare, and school affordability.
“A lack of capacity within our city agencies has undermined access to assistance that families could once rely on. This does not have to be our reality,” the speaker said at a Brooklyn Academy of Music audience that featured Adams himself. “We know our government can work because it has before. We’ve got to get back to basics — strengthen our city government to work for all New Yorkers.” “We can and must do better,” she added.
Staff shortages at the city’s Human Resources Administration have made it increasingly difficult for the mayor’s administration to handle public benefits like food stamps and cash assistance within the legally mandated time frame. Representatives from the Human Resources Administration told the Council earlier this week that there are more than 1,000 budgeted positions at their organization – as well as countless more openings at other agencies.
Beyond recruiting municipal employees, the Speaker reiterated the mayor’s need for additional housing to be constructed in order to address the city’s exorbitant rates.
She stated that the Council will collaborate with the mayor to approve a text revision to the city’s zoning laws that his administration is promoting in order to allow for greater housing construction throughout the five boroughs.
The Speaker also suggested providing incentives for the construction of apartments above city public libraries as a way to increase the number of housing units. Such initiatives have generated criticism in the past, most notably in 2015 when the city attempted to construct flats atop Brooklyn’s Sunset Park Library. In Inwood, Manhattan, 174 affordable housing units are presently being built on land held by the New York Public Library.
