Mayor Adams unveils $650 million homelessness and mental health plan in State of the City

In his fourth – and potentially final – State of the City address, an embattled Mayor Eric Adams committed to investing $650 million to support people experiencing homelessness and severe mental illness. The pledge is part of a suite of proposed investments Adams unveiled Thursday with an eye to New York City families and their uncertainty moving forward.

“There’s no denying that New Yorkers are anxious about the future,” Adams said. “Extreme costs are forcing too many people, especially working-class families, to make hard choices: between groceries or child care, medicine or clothing, making the rent or moving out.”

The Democratic incumbent faces his own uncertain future: His federal corruption trial is set to begin in April and he faces a crowded field of challengers for his primary in June. Many of his constituents remain concerned about the city’s rising cost of living and a perception of instability driven by high-profile crimes, visible street homelessness and the city’s struggles to accommodate arriving migrants.

The address delivered at Harlem's historic Apollo Theater was Adams’ opportunity to offer his administration’s antidote to these challenges. He said the city would add 900 so-called Safe Haven beds, which serve as alternative housing to larger congregate shelter facilities for people experiencing homelessness. He also pledged to open a new support facility that will offer psychiatric and substance abuse care.

Part of the mayor’s strategy hinges on whether state legislators pass a law that makes it easier for the city to forcibly hospitalize people deemed mentally ill. Advocates for civil liberties and homeless New Yorkers have historically opposed the idea, saying that such legislation merely seeks to sweep aside vulnerable New Yorkers and doesn’t address the need for additional housing and mental health resources.

The mayor also pointed to the cycle of childhood poverty and vowed to launch a pilot program that would connect families expecting children who were applying for shelter with services to help families find and secure permanent housing.

“No child should ever be born into our shelter system,” Adams said.

He also took the opportunity to tout one of his signature victories: an overhaul of the city zoning code that aims to make it easier to build housing. Adams said the city would build 800 units of housing alongside a new library on the Upper West Side, one of the city’s most expensive neighborhoods. He pledged 100,000 new homes in Manhattan alone as part of the city’s decadelong initiative to add 1 million new housing units.

“From the brownstones in Harlem to the high rises in Midtown, we will say ‘yes’ to more housing and ‘yes’ to a more family-friendly city,” Adams said, referring to his “City of Yes” plan, the linchpin of his housing strategy.

The mayor also announced more money to clean city parks, which had been among the targets of unpopular budget cuts during his administration. The city will add an extra cleaning shift to at least 100 parks, he said.

Adams said the city would also open more schoolyards to the public in underserved areas so that more New Yorkers could be within a 10-minute walk from a park.

Still, the unspecified extra funding will likely fall short of the demands of parks advocates, who have criticized Adams for failing to fulfill his promise to double the city’s parks budget.

As part of the traditionally ceremonial event, Adams' speech was preceded by nearly an hour of prayers from the city’s faith leaders and musical performances including a local city drumline. The mayor also paid tribute to Jimmy Carter, the nation’s 39th president, whose funeral was held on the same day as the speech.

Adams praised Carter as “a true public servant, a leader and humanitarian full of hope and compassion for his fellow man.”

Later, the mayor referenced the corruption charges against him, which he has vigorously denied.

“There were some who said step down,” Adams said. “I said, no, I’m gonna step up.”