NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Eric Adams proposed a dramatic increase in housing in Manhattan, services for homeless people sleeping on subways and a program to ensure children are not born in city shelters during his third State of the City address Thursday — a speech delivered at the most perilous point in his career.
Adams will pursue those initiatives, which address some of voters’ most pressing concerns, as he pursues reelection against a crowded field that may include former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The path to the June primary is tough: The Democratic mayor is facing a criminal trial in April, a suddenly very expensive campaign and an exodus of close but scandal-scarred allies pushed out at the demand of Gov. Kathy Hochul, a fellow Democrat.
On Thursday, though, Adams signaled confidence and optimism — while taking obvious digs at some of his rivals.
The charismatic mayor started his hourlong speech by thanking aides for sticking by him through tough times before pivoting to his record and making a case for his reelection: A promise to fight crime, push for reduced taxes and focus on homelessness. All are leading concerns for base Democratic voters, whose frustrations with the city have deepened during Adams’ tenure.
The city’s second Black mayor spoke at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem, a power center of the same Black electorate that vaulted him to the mayoralty. He referenced the significance of the Apollo repeatedly, in a nod to that base, which has registered frustrations with his leadership.
“Don’t listen to the noise, don’t listen to the rhetoric. New York City, the state of our city, is strong,” the defiant mayor told the packed audience.
He also used the occasion to go after his rivals, namely those on his political left challenging him for reelection.
“When others wanted to defund the police, we defended them, putting more officers on our streets to keep New Yorkers safe. When too many places pushed back on new housing, we stood up for working-class New Yorkers — never letting the voices of no drown out the voices of need,” Adams said.
And he continued to criticize outgoing President Joe Biden for his handling of the southern border, which delivered more than 240,000 migrants to New York City since 2022 — a situation Adams says cost New York taxpayers at least $7 billion.
“When Washington refused to take action on a broken immigration system, we stood up for our city and pushed back while still caring for hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers,” he said.
For the final year of his term, Adams proposed new housing development in Manhattan. As POLITICO first reported Thursday, that goal entails unlocking 100,000 housing units to bring to 1 million the number of homes in the borough.
He also pledged to earmark $650 million for New Yorkers suffering with severe mental illness and sleeping on the subway — a leading concern among voters, especially amid recent high-profile crimes. To that same end, the administration is planning to add 900 shelter beds for those homeless people, though Adams did not provide a timeline, and pledged to open a new psychiatric facility for severely mentally ill people.
“We can’t just walk past them and act like they can take care of themselves when they can’t,” he said.
Adams centered the speech on staunching the city’s outflow of families with young children, with screens behind him declaring he is “making NYC the best place to raise a family.” As part of that goal, he committed to building more multi-bedroom housing and funding swim lessons. He also ensured no child would again be born in a homeless shelter by pledging to connect expecting families with permanent housing.
“Where else can you raise such smart, savvy, global citizens?” asked Adams, who was born and raised in the city. But “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.”
Adams also devoted a lot of the speech to his signature issue of crime.
Over the last three years, shootings have decreased by roughly 42 percent and murders have dropped by nearly 23 percent. The NYPD has seized nearly 20,000 illegal guns, according to Adams, and over the last year has shuttered more than 1,300 illegal cannabis shops that had enraged much of the electorate.
Felony assaults, on the other hand, have continue to go up, rising by 5 percent between 2023 and 2024 while rapes increased 18.9 percent over the same period.
“We started with public safety,” Adams said. “The cornerstone of our city’s success.”
The mayor’s assured tone belied the difficult path he’s facing.
His housing proposal was light on details about where, exactly, the administration thinks it can rezone properties for denser development. Such proposals have historically faced stiff resistance from Manhattanites — especially those with the means and time to tie up projects like the long-delayed affordable housing set for a plot on Elizabeth Street in SoHo — and their representatives in the City Council who control land use.
And curbing the presence of homeless people on subways is expensive and legally challenging. It’s unlikely that problem will be resolved in time for his June 24 primary.
Even if Adams pulled off everything he promised, he still faces a five-count federal bribery indictment. He has pleaded not guilty, though the Department of Justice recently said it has evidence the mayor committed additional crimes.
President-elect Donald Trump has said he’d consider pardoning Adams — a potential political millstone in a Democratic primary.
And the NYPD has been rocked by abrupt leadership changes amid top-tier scandal, recently involving sexual assault and overtime manipulation allegations against the highest-ranking uniformed officer, whom Adams was close to.
Year-end crime statistics show that while major infractions on the whole decreased between 2023 and 2024, they are still up roughly 20 percent from 2021, when the retired police captain campaigned on making the city safer.
Meanwhile, Adams is facing some pushback from police unions.
The Sergeants Benevolent Association, which is negotiating its new contract, protested the mayor outside the venue. And the Police Benevolent Association has been running an ad campaign calling on City Hall to hire more cops.
Immigrant advocacy group Make the Road New York also protested outside the theater in below-freezing temperatures, arguing Adams’ past budget cuts have harmed New Yorkers.
Amid that bleak backdrop, Adams maintains coveted allies.
Members of 32BJ had a strong showing at the Apollo and their president — Manny Pastreich — spoke favorably about Adams in an intro video, as did Hotel and Gaming Trades Council president Rich Maroko. Labor support is key to his reelection.
“He got stuff done for the greatest city in the world,” Pastreich said in the prerecorded spot.