As New York City scrambles to make space for the daily arrival of more migrants — turning school gyms and churches into housing facilities — Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday said he’d be willing to house migrants in another unlikely place: his own home.
“I don’t have a problem if I can put a migrant family in Gracie Mansion,” Adams told reporters at an unrelated event at the P.S. 75 Emily Dickinson school on Tuesday morning. “Because I want to lead from the front.”
The mayor added that he’d inquired with his staff about the possibility, since the mayoral residence has legal restrictions on how it is used.
Adams’ comments are the latest in his administration’s evolving plan for housing and providing resources to a growing number of migrants in the city. They’ve resorted to using school gymnasiums, a cruise ship terminal and even busing them out to neighboring counties.
Adams has routinely criticized Democratic allies in the White House for not providing enough aid to the city. And last month, Adams began pursuing legal action to suspend a decades-long mandate that requires the city to provide shelter to anyone in need.
During the event on Tuesday, Adams also confirmed that he was already having discussions on the logistics of placing migrants in Gracie Mansion. Adams also still owns a brownstone in Bedford-Stuyvesant while staying at the historic residence in the Upper East Side that is owned by the city.
The mayor said he is still waiting to hear back on whether such actions “would go against legal protocols.”
The mayor’s office confirmed the idea was being taken seriously.
“We’ve been looking at it, and how it could possibly work,” spokesperson Fabien Levy said.
