It appears New York City Mayor Eric Adams is getting a bit defensive about how he has handled his city's homelessness crisis.
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At a press conference this week, he held up a years-old photo of L.A.'s Skid Row as an example of where things are much worse.
Holding the photo, Adams said, "This is an example of another city in America...you threw up your hands. Fires burning on the street, Children out here, there are no toilets, threw up our hands."
While it wasn't very neighborly of him to throw L.A.'s name in the mud to minimize New York's issues with homelessness, does he have a point?
Alex Barnard, a sociologist at New York University, told KNX News' Chris Sedens, "He's right, but he shouldn't get credit for it."
Barnard said, "The biggest difference between New York and Los Angeles is that New York, since the 1980s, has had a right to shelter, which means any unhoused person who asks for a temporary shelter bed gets one."
He said this means 96% of homeless people in New York are in some form of shelter compared to only 27% in Los Angeles.
Barnard said although the right-to-shelter plan is costly, he believes if N.Y. can do it, so can L.A. - so why hasn't it?
"I think that some people would say one of the reasons L.A. has gotten away with not having that kind of right to shelter is simply the conditions are somewhat more hospitable in Los Angeles than New York. Although if you look at the dramatic rise in unsheltered people dying in Los Angeles, it's clear that the idea that the weather is better so people can stay outside, that's not really the case," he said.
KNX News contacted Mayor Karen Bass about these disparaging comments from her colleague. A spokesperson said she's focused on the year ahead and has no comment on Adams' criticism.
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