At a well-attended public community forum in Harlem Sunday, Mayor Eric Adams not only took questions, but was grilled on several issues, including many on the hot topics of affordable housing and housing for migrants.

The forum was cohosted by Silent Voices United Inc. and the St. Nicholas Houses Resident Association, and it brought out dozens of people, including many who are outraged by a recent decision to house asylum seekers in an unused luxury apartment building at 2201 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd.

“We already have a homeless shelter,” Harlem resident Tyrone Ball said. “You go outside this building, there is a huge shelter and another shelter up the block beyond that. We don’t need another one.”

As the mayor responded to questions from the community, he was surrounded by signs that alluded to the mindset of people’s concerns — signs that opposed shelters for asylum seekers in Harlem and signs that emphasized local tax dollars for local needs, such as youth programs. 

“I like the support we got,” said Leslie Johnson, the president of the St. Nicholas Houses Resident Association. 

Johnson said after meeting with the mayor last Thursday to discuss the outrage that many were feeling over the plan to house migrants in a nearby luxury building that has a swimming pool and marble bathrooms, she is glad that he accepted her invitation to meet with members of her concerned community.

“We know that he cares,” she said. “We know that he hears us. This is what we want. We know that he understood us Thursday when he was at my office. He understood us, and he vowed to come back, and he kept his promise.”

Given that this was a situation in which residents got very passionate about issues that affect their community, at least two people had to get escorted out, including one man who disagreed with the mayor and who heckled him. 

Looking ahead, the mayor proposed that a two-hour workshop on housing be held to turn the conversation from passion to productivity.