New York City’s embattled social companies commissioner, who has confronted criticism over his dealing with of the town’s homelessness disaster, stated in a tv interview on Tuesday that he’s resigning.
The commissioner, Gary Jenkins, has overseen the town’s response to one of many biggest challenges dealing with New York City because the homeless inhabitants hit a document final 12 months.
“I’ve decided to step down from my position as commissioner for the Department of Social Services and explore other opportunities that have been presented to me,” Mr. Jenkins stated in an interview on NY1.
It was revealed final August that Mr. Jenkins was being investigated by the town’s Department of Investigation over his response to households making use of for shelter. At the time, Mayor Eric Adams defended him and stated that he had the “utmost confidence” in him.
“There’s no discord,” Mr. Jenkins stated on Tuesday. “There’s no running away. This was something that was already planned.”
The administration has continued to wrestle to answer a rise in homelessness, each amongst metropolis residents and from an inflow of migrants from the Southern border. The metropolis’s homeless inhabitants has risen this month to greater than 77,000 individuals, by far probably the most ever recorded and a rise of over 70 p.c since May.
The investigation of Mr. Jenkins stemmed from his dealing with of circumstances the place homeless households needed to keep in a single day at a Bronx consumption workplace. The in a single day stays violated the town’s right-to-shelter regulation and got here as officers scrambled to deal with a surge in migrants getting into the system.
The ongoing inquiry entails allegations that Mr. Jenkins sought to cover that individuals had slept on the consumption workplace, based on a former prime official with the town Department of Homeless Services and one other particular person with information of the investigation.
In August, a spokeswoman for the Social Services Department who was fired, Julia Savel, was interviewed for 3 hours concerning the matter by officers from the Investigation Department.
Mr. Jenkins additionally acquired criticism for partying on a yacht because the disaster unfolded in August. He has saved a comparatively low profile since then, usually lacking occasions just like the announcement of a plan to deal with migrants in large tents.
Mr. Adams, a Democrat in his second 12 months in workplace, stated in an announcement that Mr. Jenkins would step down subsequent month and that he had helped carry homeless individuals off the subway into shelters.
“I’m incredibly grateful to Gary for his decades of service and wish him the very best in his next chapter,” the mayor stated.
For the second, the primary deputy commissioner within the metropolis Department of Homeless Services, Molly Wasow Park, will turn into the appearing social companies commissioner, a spokesman for Mr. Adams stated.
Ms. Park at the moment oversees rehousing and capability planning for the company and has labored for 20 years in inexpensive housing and social companies and was the chief operations officer of the Settlement Housing Fund, a nonprofit.
Mr. Jenkins was appointed by Mr. Adams in January 2022 because the commissioner of the Department of Social Services, which oversees each the Human Resources Administration and the Department of Homeless Services. Mr. Adams stated he employed him partly as a result of Mr. Jenkins had been homeless himself.
“I chose him because he lived in a homeless shelter as a child,” Mr. Adams stated final 12 months. “I chose him because of his dedication and commitment. And I think this city is — we’re at a better place because we have a compassionate leader like him.”
Mr. Jenkins stated he had labored at metropolis companies for greater than three a long time. He began as an eligibility specialist on the Human Resources Administration in 1989, based on his LinkedIn profile.
Still, Mr. Jenkins struggled to reply as the town’s homeless inhabitants grew. New York City has a “right to shelter” coverage and is the one place within the nation the place each one who seeks a mattress should be given one.
Ms. Savel was terminated after she challenged Mr. Jenkins’s dealing with of the in a single day stays, NBC New York reported in August. On July 20, as phrase of the violations unfold, Ms. Savel texted a colleague who works within the mayor’s press workplace that Mr. Jenkins “was trying to not tell City Hall that we broke the law.”
Text messages that Mr. Jenkins despatched a deputy mayor, Anne Williams-Isom, confirmed that he had advised her on July 18 that individuals had simply stayed in a single day on the consumption shelter and that he understood that this could not have occurred.
Shams DaBaron, a homeless advocate who has labored carefully with Mr. Adams and Mr. Jenkins, stated that Mr. Jenkins had confirmed compassion for homeless individuals and made progress on “repairing decades of failed policies.”
“I think he did a great job,” he stated, “considering the difficult circumstances we’re dealing with.”
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