Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday threw out the welcome mat at Gracie Mansion to migrants — saying he’d be happy to house asylum-seekers at the site, which boasts grandeur most New Yorkers can only dream about.
“I am a big believer in leading from the front,” Adams said when asked by The Post if he would offer up his own stately, historic Upper East Side home as part of the city’s new plan to pay to house migrants in private residences.
“If it doesn’t go against legal protocols — there are protocols in place so I can’t use the building in any way I want — but I don’t have a problem if I could put a migrant family in Gracie Mansion.”
The 224-year-old estate on East 88th Street — which Adams claims is haunted by ghosts — boasts lovely views of the East River and five bedrooms on the second floor, with the downstairs largely used for receptions and events hosted by City Hall. The property is also rented out for non-city functions such as weddings.
Adams said he is seeking “cheaper” housing options for the city’s rush of migrants.
The Big Apple has been shelling out close to a $380 average nightly rate for housing, feeding and providing other services to migrant households, including families with children and single adults.
His new plan involving churches, mosques and other houses of worship would pay them $125 a day per migrant.
It’s unclear how much private residents might get.
“If someone is struggling [with] their mortgage and they have a spare bedroom and we can find a way to say, ‘How do we help you pay your mortgage because of another economic challenge we’re going [through], at the same time helping the migrant crisis?’ we’re willing to do that,” Adams said.
“I am trying to deal with this crisis using all the tools available,” he added.
In mid-May, scores of furious parents and children protested outside at least three Brooklyn schools prepped to house migrants, demanding Adams find other spots — including his own Gracie Mansion — to dump the asylum-seekers.
“I say to the mayor, ‘Open up Gracie Mansion, and allow the migrants to have a shower and hot meal,’” Mayra Ducos, 42, raged to The Post at the time as she rallied outside her children’s Williamsburg school, PS 17.
“’You have 22,000 square feet, let them seek refuge at your home.’ I bet he has a good stove to cook the migrants a hot meal,” she said of Hizzoner.
The city is currently sheltering nearly 46,000 asylum-seekers in more than 150 emergency sites set up across the five boroughs. It has cared for more than 70,000 migrants in all since last spring.
Adams has claimed fellow Democrat President Biden’s administration has “turned its back” on the city over the migrant influx and asked Washington to pick up the city’s estimated $4.5 billion tab associated with the crisis.
