He\u2019s inheriting a solid foundation for housing \u2014 if he builds with it.<\/p>\n
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is poised to reap the benefits of housing-related ballot measures approved by voters on Election Day \u2014 but the socialist pol has given few concrete signs about whether he\u2019ll actually use them.<\/p>\n
The proposals crafted at outgoing Mayor Eric Adams\u2019 behest \u2014 and over the objections of angry City Council members \u2014 aim to turbocharge the Big Apple\u2019s notoriously slow process for approving new housing by offering up more power to the mayor\u2019s office.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has largely stayed silent on the new powers approved by voters to build housing. James Messerschmidt<\/p>\n
\u201cYou need an ambitious mayor who uses it because if you just sit back, then the measures don\u2019t facilitate ambitious regulatory reform,\u201d said Alex Armlovich, senior housing policy analyst at Niskanen Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you have to actually use them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mamdani, however, has largely stayed quiet over the potentially game-changing new mayoral powers, even as he promises 200,000 new, union-built units of affordable housing.<\/p>\n
The affordability focused Mamdani positioned himself as a pro-housing YIMBY \u2014 \u201cYes In My Backyard\u201d \u2014 during the mayoral campaign, promising bold action to juice the city\u2019s dwindling affordable housing supply and bring sky-high rents back to earth.<\/p>\n
Mamdani has broadly called to build 200,000 new affordable housing units. Gina M Randazzo\/Zuma \/ SplashNews.com<\/p>\n
But the smooth-talking socialist\u00a0pointedly stayed silent<\/a>\u00a0on whether he supported the housing-related ballot measures until Election Day itself, when he\u00a0revealed he voted for them<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mamdani also mostly kept quiet on \u201cCity of Yes\u201d pro-housing rezonings pursued by Adams \u2014 a conspicuous silence that extended into Wednesday when he said nothing about the City Council approving the administration\u2019s plan to bring 15,000 new homes to Long Island City.<\/p>\n Adams\u2019 deputy mayor for housing Adolfo Carrion crowed Wednesday that Mamdani can run with what the soon-to-end administration left him \u2014 including 50,000 expected units from rezonings in LIC, Midtown South, Brooklyn\u2019s Atlantic Avenue corridor, Jamaica and the East Bronx.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019ve set up the next mayor for success here,\u201d Carrion said during an unrelated press conference.<\/p>\n New York City Mayor Elect Zohran Mamdani speaking at the Urban League Empowerment Center in New York City. Michael Brochstein\/ZUMA Press Wire \/ SplashNews.com<\/p>\n \u201cWe had so much affordable housing in the pipeline. If he does it right, he\u2019s going to be able to deliver for New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n Mamdani, separately on Wednesday, attended an event celebrating the new National Urban League Empowerment Center in Harlem \u2014 which brings 170 affordable new homes alongside a museum, a Trader Joe\u2019s and Target.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \u201cIt represents affordable housing, the support for those New Yorkers who have long been overlooked at best, retail spaces for this very community and is black-owned in a time when we are being taught as if the words DEI are that of a slur,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen, in fact, what they are is a representation of the fulfillment of the ideals that make so\u00a0many\u00a0proud.\u201d<\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s camp didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment about the new mayoral powers.<\/p>\n Affordability was the centerpiece of Mamdani\u2019s campaign. James Messerschmidt<\/p>\n Under the measures, the mayor\u2019s office could take aim at the city\u2019s near-universally loathed Universal Land Use Review Process, or ULURP, to cut red tape around affordable housing and rezoning approval \u2014 shortening the process from seven months or more to as little as 90 days.<\/p>\n The proposals took away some of the final voting power from the City Council, placing\u00a0more responsibility on the city planning commission and on mayoral approval.<\/p>\n Many City Council members bitterly opposed the proposals, viewing them as a mayoral power grab by the outgoing Hizzoner that would crumble their say in housing battles.<\/p>\n \u201cThese misleading ballot proposals permanently change the City\u2019s constitution to weaken democracy, lasting beyond the next mayor when we inevitably have a mayor who is bad on housing, equity, and justice for communities,\u201d said Benjamin Fang-Estrada, the City Council\u2019s spokesman, in a statement after the proposals passed.<\/p>\n Mamdani also mostly kept quiet on \u201cCity of Yes\u201d pro-housing rezonings pursued by Adams. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cThis will leave our city without the checks and balances of democracy to protect New Yorkers and ensure outcomes that prioritize them, not simply profits.\u201d<\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s relationship with the City Council is in its infancy, and he has shown signs his views on how to build housing are evolving.<\/p>\n His campaign platform pledged to pour $100 billion over 10 years toward new affordable homes, largely through municipal bonds.<\/p>\n The 200,000 units of housing would be publicly subsidized, permanently affordable, union-built and rent-stabilized, Mamdani\u2019s campaign states.<\/p>\n New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani looks on as New York Governor Kathy Hochul speaks during the grand opening of the Urban League Empowerment Center by the National Urban League in Harlem on November 12, 2025. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n