As New York City’s migrant crisis continues and amid an investigation into an alleged coverup of violations at homeless shelters, the head of the city’s Department of Social Services is resigning, multiple sources tell NBC New York. NBC New York’s Melissa Russo reports.
As New York City's migrant crisis continues and amid an investigation into an alleged coverup of violations at homeless shelters, the head of the city's Department of Social Services is resigning, he announced Tuesday evening.
Gary Jenkins, who oversees both the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) and Human Resources Administration (HRA), told coworkers earlier in the day that he will be stepping down to pursue other opportunities, multiple sources told News 4.
"After 36 years, I've decided to step down," Jenkins said in an interview Tuesday night.
"There's no discord, there's no running away...This agency helped my family. I always wanted to go back and help others," he said, explaining how he was in homeless shelters as a young New Yorker.
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Two sources tell News 4 that the city’s plan is to have Molly Park, the First Deputy Commissioner at DHS, serve as acting commissioner after his departure, which is expected to be by March 3.
In a statement, Mayor Eric Adams credited Jenkins with "providing our most vulnerable neighbors with compassion, dignity, and a path toward stabilizing their lives. Under his leadership, the Department of Social Services invested a historic amount to support unsheltered New Yorkers — bringing and keeping more than 1,100 people living on our subways into shelter as part of our Subway Safety Plan and inviting those with lived experiences to the table to help craft our housing and homelessness plans."
Adams added that Jenkins' time in a shelter as a child gave him "a unique understanding of the struggles families in shelters face, and a steadfast commitment to treating all of our clients with dignity and care. I'm incredibly grateful to Gary for his decades of service and wish him the very best in his next chapter."
The mayor previously defended the social services commissioner and the department he has led, saying their work was "commendable" and that he was "proud" of the agency. The mayor later added that he stood by Jenkins' staff decisions and said any conversation he had had with the commissioner about firing the whistleblower was "a private personnel conversation."
The union that represents workers in the homeless shelter system also thanked Jenkins for his years of work and for "recognizing the work and dedication of the workers. We wish him all the best in his new endeavors."
The resignation comes amid an investigation into a DHS whistleblower being fired after having had resisted alleged efforts by Jenkins to conceal crowded conditions in the city's shelters from City Hall; Jenkins says he and senior staff were unaware that it was illegal to house families in the intake office and denied any attempt to cover up poor conditions. He also insisted that the whistleblower was fired for other reasons, but did not specify why.
Multiple sources have told News 4 in recent weeks that Jenkins had been discussing his intention to leave the agency and find another job. He said on Tuesday that his decision to leave had nothing to do with the investigation.
"This was something I was definitely already planning to do, I’m really proud and privileged to serve under Mayor Eric Adams," said Jenkins.
The city's Department of Investigation launched a probe into the matter last year, and said in a statement last month that it is an "an active and ongoing investigation." The department has not commented on when the investigation is expected to be complete, or whether it is related to Jenkins' resignation.
DSS did not immediately respond to request for comment.
The DOI opened the investigation after News 4 reported on the allegations that DSS tried to cover up legal violations at its homeless shelter intake center.
Email and text messages provided to the News 4 I-Team suggested that the Deputy Commissioner for Public Information Julia Savel had flagged efforts by Social Services Commissioner Gary Jenkins to conceal crowded conditions in the city's homeless shelter system from his superiors at City Hall, from the media and from the public.
In one text message dated July 20, Savel indicated to a City Hall spokeswoman that she was planning to inquire about moving to a different agency, saying "Just can't work for a commish who is ok with covering up something illegal."
A few weeks later, News 4 reported that Savel had been fired from DSS.
Homeless Services Investigation: Timeline of Events
Staff at the Department of Homeless Services say they learned on July 18 that families with children had been forced to stay overnight in the city's homeless intake office in the Bronx, known as PATH — a practice that is prohibited under a 2008 court settlement between the City and Legal Aid, which represents people living in shelter.
The text messages imply that Savel gave City Hall a heads up the next day, on July 19. That same day, Mayor Adams announced NYC needed federal funding to help with a surge of 2,800 asylum seekers who had entered the shelter system in recent weeks. But the mayor did not specifically mention any legal violations or families sleeping in the intake office.
Later that week Adams said he did not learn the city had violated its "right to shelter mandate" until July 20.
Several sources tell News 4 that staff at the Department of Social Services, including the agency's legal team, were angry after being instructed to hold off on telling City Hall, and not promptly notify the Legal Aid Society, as has been past protocol.
City officials acknowledge there was a delay in disclosing the violations, but they say top officials at the Department of Social Services -- including the Commissioner -- were unaware that they are legally obligated not to house families overnight in their intake office.
This, despite the fact that a report is sent out each morning at 4 a.m. to notify social services managers of any violations. (Jenkins had also worked in city social services for more than 30 years, and was previously administrator and before that first deputy commissioner of the Human Resources Administration. When previously asked if he was concerned that such an experienced commissioner did not know about those reporting rules, Adams replied "there are many laws we must abide by.")
In a statement last August, City Hall Spokesperson Fabien Levy said that Jenkins had been informed of the families staying at the intake office the morning after it occurred, and "immediately" informed Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom at City Hall.
"There was never any intention to delay communication of the issue to anyone at City Hall. The quoted text messages are misleading, lack context, and were shared by a former junior staffer in the administration who was not privy to conversations between our leadership teams," Levy said in a statement. "We will continue to do the hard and important work to provide shelter to everyone who seeks it.”
The mayor later added that there was no cover-up and insisted that Jenkins "immediately reported" the violations of the law.
Screenshots of text messages obtained by the I-Team suggested Savel disclosed the violation to the mayor's press office against Commissioner Jenkins' wishes.
"I was just told that I'm not allowed to tell city hall anything anymore," Savel wrote in a July 20 text message to Eric Adams' deputy press secretary, Kate Smart.
"Gary was trying to not tell city hall that we broke the law. I got yelled at for telling you. I've known since Monday."
The mayor's spokeswoman replied "Oy."
Savel previously declined to comment to News 4 on the contents of the messages. Some of her past co-workers had suggested she left prior jobs to mixed reviews, while others spoke of her in the highest terms.
Untrue Statements?
The situation at the intake center became public on July 20 after the News 4 I-Team interviewed Venezuelan migrant families who reported spending multiple overnights in the PATH office. When News 4 requested a response from DHS, there was an internal debate about whether to tell the truth, according to a source familiar with the discussions.
An internal email chain including senior agency staff, attorneys and spokespeople shows Jenkins suggested making an untrue statement, that "we are meeting our legal mandate to provide shelter."
According to a source familiar with the situation, Jenkins was told by his legal team that he may not lie about breaking the law.
The statement ultimately issued to News 4 several hours later by Savel was more truthful, saying the city had been "unable to immediately place four families by 4am as required by law."
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Social Services said that the city has a "legal and moral obligation" to provide shelter for all who require it, and "despite unprecedented challenges" the department will remain dedicated to meeting that mandate.
At a news conference on July 21, after News 4's report aired, Mayor Adams admitted they had violated the law for a small number of families, adding they violated the "letter of the law but not the spirit of the law."
When pressed by News 4 about families' insistence that they had remained in the intake office for days, Adams said he was told by his staff that "nobody was sleeping on floors." (Migrant families described spending the night with 60 or even 80 other people and not enough food.)
