Days before she announced her decision to resign from Mayor Eric Adams’ administration on Monday, Maria Torres-Springer kicked off a gathering of top city officials at a new affordable housing development in East New York, where she touted the “incredible progress we have made in combating” New York City’s shortage of affordable homes.
As first deputy mayor, Torres-Springer is tasked with tackling the city’s persistent housing crisis, which is marked by record-high rents and a historically low number of available vacant apartments. Her planned departure — along with those of three other deputy mayors — has left Adams fighting for his political survival. It also raises questions about who will steer the city’s housing efforts and the future of a city charter commission that she convened to streamline development.
“Who are we relying on? The mayor can’t run the city by himself,” said Kathy Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City business group and a member of the Charter Revision Commission. “Her leaving is obviously concerning.”
In a written statement, Torres-Springer praised Adams for his focus on housing and the “extraordinary teamwork” among various city officials.
“Bending the needle on the housing crisis is the defining task of our generation, and I am confident this work will continue with the energy and urgency it deserves,” she said. Torres-Springer and the other deputy mayors were expected to leave the administration by the end of March, Gothamist previously reported.
Adams has yet to name her replacement, who will inherit an epic to-do list at City Hall. Late last year, Torres-Springer helped win approval for one of the mayor’s chief accomplishments: a sweeping plan that tweaks land-use rules citywide to allow for up to 80,000 new homes. Under her leadership, the city is currently pursuing additional plans to build tens of thousands of new condos and apartments, constructing housing on municipal sites and pursuing new methods for funding improvements to public housing.
Those efforts include rezoning Midtown, parts of Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, a 300-square-block swath of Jamaica, Queens, and a section of Long Island City once targeted for a new Amazon office complex. All the proposals need to win the City Council’s support. According to the Department of City Planning, they are all slated to complete the review process during the final 10 months of Adams’ term — that is, if he is not removed by Gov. Kathy Hochul or a committee of top city elected officials.
Housing experts said Torres-Springer has been the public face of the administration’s housing initiatives, as well as a behind-the-scenes force who negotiated deals and helped win public and Council support for the plans by marshaling city agencies to invest in infrastructure, fund affordable housing and make other neighborhood improvements.
In one key example, she worked with Hochul and officials from the governor’s office to secure a $1 billion state commitment to fund housing as part of the citywide rezoning plan late last year. On the eve of the Council vote to approve the plan, she contacted the governor’s office to lock in the funding, according to two people familiar with the negotiations who did not want to be named for fear of further complicating Adams’ and Hochul’s relationship. Adams elevated Torres-Springer to first deputy mayor in October after Hochul urged him to remove top deputies who were subject to ongoing criminal investigations.
Once the charter revision commission makes its recommendations for housing-related ballot proposals, Torres-Springer would have been out front pitching them to voters.
Kirk Goodrich, president of the affordable housing development firm Monadnock, said he was worried about “bigger-picture issues,” including rezonings, that require the coordination of multiple city agencies, private-sector groups and the City Council. He cited delays in leasing affordable apartments through the city’s housing lottery when tenants move out, which have led some units to sit empty for over a year, as Gothamist first reported.
“Something like that is where you need a deputy mayor to intercede because it crosses multiple agencies,” Goodrich said. “I can’t understate the importance of someone who is knowledgeable, experienced and forthright.”
But he added that he expected the day-to-day operations at city agencies to continue as usual. The heads of the city’s planning, housing and social services departments are all staying put for now, as is the city’s executive director for housing, Leila Bozorg, who currently still reports to Torres-Springer and serves as secretary of the charter commission, according to City Hall.
“New York City’s housing plan remains in good hands with countless professionals, government experts, advocates and every day New Yorkers working every day to continue making New York City the best place to raise a family,” said City Hall spokesperson Allison Maser.
New city data backs up the “progress” Torres-Springer cited in East New York last week. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development reported financing 14,145 new homes last year, while Department of Social Services data shows more than 16,000 households moved out of shelters and into permanent housing through rental assistance subsidies, the most on record.
In the immediate term, Torres-Springer’s pending departure has already widened the political rift between the Adams administration and City Council over the charter revision body.
Speaker Adrienne Adams, who has called on the mayor to resign, had previously criticized the administration for what she described as a ploy to “politically weaponize” the charter revision process. Council leaders have accused the mayor of forming the commission to block the Council from forming its own.
The commission is charged with proposing measures that would later appear on ballots during local elections. But the Council has been moving forward with a separate commission and has sought measures to increase the Council’s oversight of whom the mayor appoints to lead city agencies.
City Council spokesperson Mara Davis called the mayor’s commission “shameful” in light of accusations that he offered to aid President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in exchange for a dismissal of his federal corruption charges.
“The latest developments in City Hall only further undermine its credibility,” Davis said.
In a written statement to Gothamist, Chair Richard Buery and 12 other members of the Charter Revision Commission rejected the notion that they were bound to the mayor or Torres-Springer, saying they remained “committed to this work despite the political challenges facing the city.”
“We remind everyone that this is an independent commission, with its own staff, budget, and mission,” they added. “We will continue to act independently as we pursue this important work.”