When Eric Adams took office as New York City’s 110th mayor on January 1, 2022, he declared himself the “face of the new Democratic Party” and promised to restore “swagger” to a city battered by the pandemic.
Four years later, as Adams exits Gracie Mansion, his tenure offers a cautionary tale of ambition colliding with governance. His record on affordable housing, immigrant protections and police accountability reveals a mayor who often talked big but delivered unevenly.
Police Misconduct: Reforms Deferred
A former NYPD captain and founder of “100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care,” Adams centered his 2021 mayoral bid on public safety. And even though he ran as a “pro-cop” candidate, there were high hopes that Adams would be able to deliver reforms and greater accountability to a police department known for systemic racialized policing.
Before he entered politics, Adams was a vocal police reform advocate. He strongly condemned the ugly behavior of off-duty police officers who in September 1992 stormed City Hall to protest Mayor David Dinkins’ support for the creation of an all-civilian complaint review board. That day, thousands of off-duty police officers, many carrying racist placards disparaging Dinkins, flooded the streets of City Hall bringing traffic to a standstill. Standing in front of City Hall steps before a bank of news cameras, Adams fittingly described them as a “drunk racist lynch mob.”
But as mayor, any signs of the reform-minded, vocal critic of police abuse quickly faded. Adams reinstated controversial plainclothes units and launched the Community Response Team (CRT), an aggressive squad tasked with tackling quality-of-life crimes. Internal audits flagged unconstitutional stops and excessive force by CRT officers, yet Adams continued to champion the unit—going as far as to livestream its operations and pose in its uniform.
More damaging were the claims of promotions-for-bribes and obstruction of internal investigations lodged by former NYPD chiefs, painting a grim picture of a mayor who either tolerated or ignored misconduct among his closest allies. Though crime rates fell and subway safety improved under his watch, the mayor’s failure to confront the NYPD’s internal rot undermined his credibility as a reformer.
Affordable Housing: Lofty Goals, Mixed Results
Adams entered office amid a generational housing crisis, pledging a “moonshot” goal of 500,000 new homes over a decade. He branded his administration “the most pro-housing in city history,” touting zoning reforms like the City of Yes and neighborhood rezonings in Long Island City, Midtown South, and Atlantic Avenue. These initiatives could eventually enable more than 130,000 new homes, including thousands of permanently affordable units.
Yet the reality is more complicated. It is true that under the Adams administration more homeless New Yorkers are exiting shelters using CityFHEPS vouchers and the proportion of units built by HPD for the lowest-income housing are up. Those achievements are minimized, however, by the fact that rents soared to record highs during Adams’ time in office while homelessness increased. His focus on long-term rezonings may years from now lay the groundwork for structural change. But by fighting immediate relief measures like expanding housing vouchers or capping rent hikes, he failed to stem the housing affordability crisis during his own term.
Cozying Up to Trump Over Protecting Immigrants
New York City is first and foremost a city of immigrants. It has prided itself on being a sanctuary city. So, when Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025 touting his anti-immigrant agenda, promising mass deportations (read: deport immigrants of color), an end to birthright citizenship and to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to round up the undocumented in homes, workplaces, schools, churches and hospitals, Mayor Adams could have pledged to protect immigrants who are an essential part of the city’s heritage, vibrancy and everyday life.
Instead, he chose to indulge President Trump, agreeing not to publicly “criticize” him for his attacks on New York in exchange for a “direct line” to the president. In doing so, he cemented the public perception that he was unwilling to stand up for vulnerable immigrants. As the Trump administration ramped up ICE raids, Adams’ approach to immigration enforcement was marked by ambiguity. “Children should go to school… victims of crime should speak to law enforcement,” Adams said at a town hall, pledging to uphold sanctuary laws.
But immigrant advocates accused him enabling federal crackdowns pointing to his willingness to coordinate with federal authorities on criminal enforcement and his refusal to condemn courthouse raids. His administration did intervene in some high-profile cases, filing briefs to block deportations of immigrant students, but these gestures could not erase the perception that Adams was prioritizing his own political survival over immigrant trust.
There were lofty expectations for Adams in the city’s Black community. He promised to be mayor for the working-class New Yorkers who carried him into office – a pragmatic progressive who could marry public safety with equity.
In the end, however, many of the Black and brown voters who supported him turned away from him when he sought re-election, and his administration unraveled under ethical lapses and federal scrutiny.
David R. Jones, Esq., is President and CEO of the Community Service Society of New York (CSS), the leading voice on behalf of low-income New Yorkers for more than 175 years. The views expressed in this column are solely those of the writer. The Urban Agenda is available on CSS’s website: www.cssny.org.