Stringer rails de Blasio on homelessness, new jobs plan

City Comptroller Scott Stringer on Wednesday took aim at the mayor’s plan to create 100,000 jobs over the next decade to address the city’s “affordability crisis.”

During this week’s State of the City address, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced plans to add 100,000 “good paying” jobs to the city — defined as those that pay at least $50,000 a year — as a way to address affordability issues and cost of housing in the city. Stringer, who is a possible Democratic challenger in the upcoming mayoral election, noted that the city already adds an average of 90,000 private sector jobs each year, Politico reported.

“I don’t think people truly understood what he was talking about,” Stringer said. “To talk about a plan over ten years to create 100,000 jobs, to do that over ten years is an empty promise and it’s certainly not enough.”

Stringer said that despite the uptick in spending on homeless-related services — having nearly doubled over the past four years to $2.3 billion — the homeless population has grown to more than 60,000. The comptroller also said the city’s reliance on commercial hotels is “truly out of control,” Politico reported. Last year, the city spent $102 million to house the homeless in hotels.

Rents in New York City are the second-highest in the world, according to a recent study by London-based brokerage Nested. [Politico] — Kathryn Brenzel