Mayor Eric Adams defended his embattled social services chief on Thursday after The Post revealed Gary Jenkins opted to go on vacation amid a surge of migrants that’s pushed the Big Apple’s shelter system into crisis.
Jenkins’ decision also came as his agency, the Department of Social Services, has struggled to meet its own deadlines in opening a new intake center and to find new hotel rooms to provide emergency shelter for the recent arrivals.
“I’m just blown away when people talk about live/work balance,” Hizzoner told reporters following an unrelated press conference in Queens. “Here is a man that has been inundated housing thousands of people that came to our city.”
Mayor Eric Adams defended embattled Department of Social Services chief Gary Jenkins after he went on vacation amid the surge in migrants arriving in the city. William Farrington
Adams gave Jenkins a vote of confidence as his department has struggled to keep up with the newly arrived migrants being sent from the border. William FarringtonHe added: “I have the utmost confidence in Gary — and Gary’s going nowhere.”
City Hall estimates that more than 7,000 migrants — many of whom are seeking asylum from the violence and instability in Venezuela — have arrived in the five boroughs since May, with busloads of newcomers heading to the Port Authority almost every day.
Adams said earlier this week that roughly 5,600 are now living in city shelters.
A charter bus of migrants arriving at the Port Authority bus terminal on August 25, 2022. James Keivom
The Department of Social Services hasn’t met its own deadline for creating an intake center for migrants and providing hotel rooms for shelter. James KeivomThe wave of humanity quickly pushed the city’s already beleaguered shelter system into a new crisis as officials ran out of beds and were forced to begin renting out hotel rooms again to provide additional space for housing.
