Mayor Zohran Mamdani has unveiled his plan for tackling the affordable housing crisis in New York City.

“The city is putting forward the most ambitious plan for affordable housing this city has ever seen,” he said.

What You Need To Know

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has unveiled his plan for tackling the affordable housing crisis in New York City

The plan, “Block by Block,” aims to create and preserve 400,000 units of affordable housing over the next decade

The Mamdani administration will take a number of actions including investing over $5 billion into public housing, launching new financing tools to help some landlords make emergency repairs, pushing for zoning changes in order to build in neighborhoods with low, affordable housing stock and using the city’s new expedited land-use process

In an interview with NY1 on Tuesday, Mamdani detailed some of the plan’s goals. Among them is increasing homeownership in the city through the expansion of city-backed loans for first-time homebuyers. 

“We are invested in ensuring that homeownership is something more than a dream for New Yorkers. And you know this as well as I do that for many New Yorkers it seems as if they are further and further away from that being a reality,” the mayor said.

The plan, “Block by Block,” aims to create and preserve 400,000 units of affordable housing over the next decade. 

To get there, the Mamdani administration will take a number of actions including investing over $5 billion into public housing, launching new financing tools to help some landlords make emergency repairs, pushing for zoning changes in order to build in neighborhoods with low, affordable housing stock and using the city’s new expedited land-use process. 

“We will not allow for there to be this many delays in our housing process. Today, you have a system where from the time you build that home to the time a tenant can move in is seven months,” Mamdani said.

But one part of the plan is getting some scrutiny: a program that allows landlords to increase the rent of vacant apartments despite a rent freeze. 

“The Wall Street Journal’s title was wrong and completely misleading,” Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning Leila Bozorg said. “This is not a new tool. It is something called Loan Modification and there’s often rent restructuring that can happen and this happens are really rare occasion.” 

Bozorg added that in these rare cases, it’s mostly nonprofit owners who are getting rental assistance from the city. 

Separately, Mamdani’s new digs at Gracie Mansion have placed him squarely at the center of the competitive 12th Congressional District Democratic primary in Manhattan.

He wouldn’t say who he’s supporting to succeed longtime Rep. Jerrold Nadler.

“It was a pleasure serving alongside Micah Lasher, Alex Bores. I haven’t gotten that many mailers,” Mamdani said. “I am keeping my eye on it. I will be voting.” 

And on the city’s ability to handle a possible New York Knicks NBA Finals game at the same time as a World Cup Match, the mayor said: “I’m confident in our ability to balance all of these things and to ensure that New Yorkers can actually celebrate because as you saw, the city is alive.”