With nearly 100 days in office, Mayor Zohran Mamdani has rankled landlords but also moderated on some of his key housing-related campaign promises.
In his first hours as mayor, Mamdani signed an executive order rebooting the defunct Office to Protect Tenants and tapped longtime landlord adversary Cea Weaver to lead it. A few days later, he signed another order establishing the rental ripoff hearings, to be held during the first 100 days of his administration.
These hearings were not as much of a spectacle as was initially expected, but still drew the ire of landlord groups. They provided an opportunity for tenants to meet with administration officials and sound off on everything “from poor conditions and repair delays to unconscionable business practices and non-rent fees,” per the event page.
The final hearing will be held in Staten Island next week, just three days shy of April 10, Mamdani’s 100th day in office.
The administration has 90 days from the final hearing to issue a report summarizing testimony from the hearings and recommending changes in enforcement and policies that respond to tenants’ horror stories.
That means the city will roll out recommendations to better crackdown on bad landlords soon after the Rent Guidelines Board vote on rent increases for rent stabilized apartments.
The board met for the first time last week, and the mayor released a video describing the process, notably avoiding a direct mention of his key campaign promise to freeze the rents for the next four years (though he winkingly noted that viewers “probably already know how I feel about what should happen to the rent”). He still wants a rent freeze, but ultimately it is up to the board (largely appointed by him) to decide to what extent rents should be raised for stabilized apartments.
As for new development, we don’t yet have a clear picture of what neighborhood rezonings or citywide initiatives the administration will target. The mayor is expected to release his first housing plan sometime in May, and officials have indicated that the plan will include proposals aimed at addressing rising insurance costs for property owners.
During his campaign, Mamdani repeatedly pointed to insurance and property tax reform as ways to help owners with soaring costs. Both would require action at the state level as well. In February, Sherif Soliman, director of the mayor’s Office of Management and Budget, said he hoped to get a proposal to reform the city’s property tax system to Albany in a “matter of weeks,” though its status is unclear.
Last week, Mamdani launched the Neighborhood Builders program, a prequalified list for nonprofits and M/WBE firms aimed at shaving eight months off the selection process for affordable housing projects on city-owned land.
He also signed an executive order on his first day in office that created the Streamlining Procedures to Expedite Equitable Development, or SPEED, task force to find ways to accelerate affordable housing development. The task force, per the executive order, must provide the mayor with initial recommendations within the first 100 days, but public release will be sometime after that.
Meanwhile, the mayor has stepped back from other campaign promises. Last week, the city appealed a court ruling that would have forced the administration to expand the CityFHEPS housing voucher program. As a mayoral candidate, Mamdani pledged to implement the expansion, which the City Council approved in 2023.
Former Mayor Eric Adams refused to implement the laws, arguing that the City Council overstepped its legislative authority and that the expansion was too expensive. The Mamdani administration picked up both those arguments in its appeal, while also saying that they are still working toward a settlement agreement with advocates.
The appeal comes as the city stares down a multibillion budget deficit. The mayor has reportedly backed away from his threat to raise property taxes if the state doesn’t raise taxes on corporations and the state’s wealthiest — though when asked by reporters last week, he didn’t say the proposal was off the table. How the city deals with the deficit will be a major test for the mayor, as well as for his relationship with Albany. Lawmakers and the governor are still working on the state budget, which is due Wednesday. While the Democratic majorities have included tax increases in their budget plans, the governor hasn’t budged in her opposition.
Keep an eye out for more coverage on this as we get closer to the first 100 days mark!
What we’re thinking about: Send me your impressions of the Mamdani administration so far at kathryn@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: Mercer County, N.J., is home to a number of historic parks and monuments commemorating important moments in the American Revolution. One that is less obvious is a large oak tree marooned in the middle of busy Quakerbridge Road in Hamilton Township. The tree’s claim to fame is that it is located along the route that George Washington and his troops marched from Trenton to Princeton before defeating British forces in the Battle of Princeton on January 3, 1777. The marker doesn’t specify if the tree was actually there when all this happened, or if it is just a very lucky tree spared and left in the middle of the road solely because it seemed a good place to put an historic marker.
Elsewhere in New York…
— The Mamdani administration expanded a pilot program that provides free childcare to certain, Gothamist reports. Under the $2.3 million expansion, city employees working in the David N. Dinkins building at 1 Centre Street will have access to childcare, in addition to all Department of Citywide Administrative Services employees. Former Mayor Eric Adams announced the pilot late last year, but made the services only available to DCAS employees.
— Someone posing as City Council member Gale Brewer tricked the New York City Employment Retirement System into issuing a $32,980 loan, the City reports. Brewer’s account was one of 33 accounts held by the pension fund that were hacked since 2020. The Department of Investigation believes that the fund issued at least $276,000 loans to fraudsters.
Closing Time
Residential: The largest residential sale Monday was $13.6 million for 1151 East Seventh Street. The Midwood home spans nearly 5,000 square feet. It last sold on the market in 2024 for only $186,000.
Commercial: The largest commercial sale was $15.8 million for 684 Greenwich Street. The West Village mixed-use apartment is 6,900 square feet. JLL had the initial listing.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $29.5 million for a penthouse unit at 152 Elizabeth Street. The new construction condo unit is 5,600 square feet. Adam Modlin of the Modlin Group has the listing.
Breaking Ground: The largest new building permit filed was for a proposed 69,163-square-foot, 15-story building at 175 Echo Place, Mount Hope. Mohammad Ahead is the applicant of record.
— Joseph Jungermann