Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams’s newly elevated First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer announced new housing development figures Wednesday — cheering it as progress made on the state and city’s housing crisis.

It’s also a show of support from Hochul that she’s working with City Hall during the mayor’s time of crisis.

The governor and Torres-Springer were together in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on Wednesday, cheering the fruits of the housing deal during last year’s state budget.


What You Need To Know

  • Gov. Kathy Hochul and First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer appeared in Brooklyn Wednesday without Mayor Eric Adams, announcing progress made on the city and state's housing crisis

  • Hochul and Torres-Springer helped negotiate an extension of the since-expired building incentive program known as 421-a. A deal was struck to allow projects approved under the law before it expired in 2021 to move forward through 2031

  • Hochul said that 71,000 apartments, including 21,000 affordable units, in over 650 buildings are slated to be built under the new program extension

Announcing the start of new developments thanks to a law the pair both helped negotiate permitting an extension of the since-expired building incentive program known as 421-a.

A deal was struck to allow projects approved under the law before it expired in 2021 to move forward through 2031.

“We kept fighting and as I said, we passed the most significant housing legislation in Albany in 50 years,” Hochul said. “We have received applications for the 421-a extension for 71,000 apartments, including 21,000 affordable units, over 650 buildings — that’s just since this past summer when I signed it into law. How extraordinary is that?”

But the announcement was made without Mayor Eric Adams.

“We have always done our housing announcements together, Maria and I,” Hochul explained, adding that their schedules did not line up when asked about Adams’s absence.

It’s the first public event the pair attended together since Torres-Springer’s promotion, after the governor ordered Adams to fire controversial aides in the wake of his federal indictment.

Adams named former NYPD officer Chauncey Parker, his new deputy mayor for public safety on Tuesday and Torres-Springer to her role last week,

Following a number of resignations, Hochul is taking partial credit for.

“I feel he has done what I asked him to do, which was to clean house,” she said. “That was pretty significant that you have seen a lot of changes over the last couple of weeks, and especially this week.”

So far, resisting calls to remove the mayor from office, Hochul instead seems keen on standing by Adams — arguing that she also needs him.

“Everything we have to work on must continue. My commitment to New Yorkers was to ensure that they do not feel a disruption,” she said.