Mayor Adams backed up embattled Social Services Commissioner Gary Jenkins on Thursday amid swirling controversy over his decision to go on a nearly two-week vacation in the midst of a city homeless shelter crisis.
Speaking at an unrelated press conference in Queens, Adams said Jenkins had every right to leave for Mexico last week, as first reported by the Daily News, and mocked concern over his trip as overblown.
“He did the cardinal sin: He went on vacation with his family,” Adams told reporters. “That is just so unbelievable that in a time that all of us are dealing with the impact, the distress of our daily lives — I commend him for renewing himself and coming back and doing those 12 and 13 hour days that he’s been doing. I have the utmost confidence in Gary. Gary’s going nowhere.”
Jenkins, who as social services commissioner oversees the city’s shelter system, first landed in hot water when it was discovered that his agency had failed to find shelter beds for at least five Latin American families in a timely manner in July, forcing them to sleep on the floor of a Bronx intake center.
Since the city is a “Right to Shelter” jurisdiction, the slipup broke the law — and Jenkins’ problems only compounded after his former top spokeswoman accused him of initially attempting to keep Adams and the public in the dark about the legal violations.
The ex-spokeswoman, Julia Savel, was fired within days of raising those concerns, and the Department of Investigation has since launched a probe into Jenkins over the alleged coverup.
Meantime, the Social Services Department is continuing to scramble to find shelter space for the dozens of South and Central American migrants who continue to arrive in the city every week after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in hopes of seeking asylum. Since May, more than 7,000 migrants have cycled through the shelter system, which is already overcrowded with homeless New Yorkers, city data shows.
Against that backdrop, Jenkins departed for his Mexican vacation last Friday. Jenkins, who has vehemently denied the coverup accusations, is expected to return Sept. 6.
At Thursday’s press conference, Adams praised Jenkins as “a man who has been inundated housing thousands of people that came to our city” and suggested New Yorkers would know if he was not happy with the commissioner’s job performance.
“One thing my team knows about me: If you do something wrong, we have to correct it,” the mayor said. “But I’m not the leader that abandons you because people are yelling at you. That’s just not who I am.”
