What NYC’s Next Mayor Can (And Can’t) Do About Housing Affordability

Zohran Mamdani has ambitious goals for making housing affordable Bureaucrats from the past two mayoral administrations say making those plans a reality will take tremendous management and strong relationships with the city council and Albany Apartment buildings in Queens at dusk Benjamin Kanter Mayoral Photo Office Why is the rent so damn high It s a question New Yorkers want their mayor to answer Fed up with the high cost of housing New York City Democratic voters powered Queens Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani to an upset success in last month s mayoral primary He ll now head into the general electoral process on Nov against incumbent Mayor Eric Adams Republican Curtis Sliwa independent Jim Walden and possibly former Gov Andrew Cuomo who is still deciding whether to remain in the race on the independent line Mamdani s campaign put affordability at the forefront Housing the largest expense in a great number of household budgets was the top issue for voters in selected polls and several narrated City Limits that housing affordability was one of their main concerns People are struggling and every little bit helps stated Michael Campos on the cost of housing Campos works in a warehouse and ranked Mamdani first when he went to the polls in Prospect Heights on June function d u ac var s d createElement 'script' s type 'text javascript' s src 'https a omappapi com app js api min js' s async true s dataset user u s dataset campaign ac d getElementsByTagName 'head' appendChild s document 'u kmqsczew vunxutxmd' Nearly every primary candidate had a plan for housing affordability From building hundreds of thousands of new units prioritizing income-restricted housing pushing large-scale zoning amendment to building new neighborhoods on city-owned golf courses there was no shortage of big ideas Mamdani now the Democratic nominee for mayor called for a four-year freeze on rent in the million stabilized units citywide constructing affordable apartments and fully staffing city housing agencies I love that there is ambition in his and numerous other plans It s clear that the number one issue is affordability announced Maria Torres-Springer former deputy mayor for housing under Mayor Eric Adams who is running as an independent in November s general ballot Housing officers from the past two administrations informed City Limits that the mayor has notable agenda-setting power But turning plans into reality is no cakewalk Mayors stretching back decades have struggled to get housing plans done in the nation s densest city where land is precious and building housing is increasingly expensive Housing is very complicated announced Vicki Been former deputy mayor for housing under Bill de Blasio s administration now with New York Law School and the Furman Center Almost any move on the mayor s chessboard swiftly entangles other institutions like the City Council the state legislature and the governor which can control or influence tax framework land use and budgets A mayor is incredibly constrained compared to what I think people believe to be the affair being the mayor of the nation s largest city announced Been Here s what the next mayor can do on day one and what they may need a little help with People power The mayor has direct control over who they appoint to set rent for rent stabilized tenants review land use applications oversee NYCHA and run city agencies that build housing Mayors have through their appointees very strong control over housing initiative within the city stated Carl Weisbrod former City Planning Commission chair and director of the New York City Department of City Planning during the de Blasio administration If you want world class results on your housing plans you need world class talent added Torres-Springer Zohran Mamdani s campaign has promised to appoint a Rent Guidelines Board that would freeze rent all four years a move that a few critics say undermines the independence of the board Landlord groups like the New York Apartment Association s Kenny Burgos questioned the legality of such a move on X But Mamdani and former Mayor de Blasio have maintained that rent freezes are within the mayor s control regardless of what the board s economic analysis might say Members of the Rent Guidelines Board voting last week on rent changes for the city s stabilized apartments The mayor appoints the board s members Photo by Adi Talwar NYU Law School s Been emphasized that appointment is a powerful but not unlimited tool You have the enormous power of appointment and you have the power to try to persuade those people but if they don t vote the way that you want them to vote your remedy is to fire them and to appoint somebody else But that s heavy handed and it s going to get attention You have those powers but you have to use them wisely she reported To make meaningful progress on new rise particularly affordable housing Torres-Springer stated you need the plumbing of regime to function You need the coordination and the cooperation of so countless agencies so that an idea of a housing project goes from a kernel of that idea to authentically being occupied by a real human being You re a manager of an enormous enormous corporation added Been In New York housing and particularly affordable housing is expensive and can take a long time to build If a project requires zoning changes it must also go through the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure ULURP where society boards borough presidents the planning commission and the City Council all weigh in and negotiate the changes a process that can take months Mamdani has touted the importance of executive efficiency as part of a broader platform to deliver affordability As someone who is very passionate about general goods I think that we on the left have to be equally passionate about society excellence mentioned Mamdani in an appearance on the Plain English podcast before the primary Any example of citizens inefficiency is an opportunity for the argument to be made against the very existence of the inhabitants sector he added And so to truly make the episode time and time again that local regime has a role in providing that which is necessary to live a dignified life you have to ensure that every example of the authorities s attempt to do so is one that is indeed flourishing Making that regime apparatus work entails a maniacal focus on execution revealed Torres-Springer In New York you don t get credit for effort You get credit for fixing what s broken and for scaling what works Money makes the housing world go round When it comes to securing populace money for housing projects and programs the mayor sets the table with their policies but demands the help of the City Council and the state legislature to make them a reality These executives and legislative bodies do operate in certain degree of tension even in the best of times revealed Weisbrod The mayor sets the agenda when it comes to the operating budget which controls housing programs and the capital budget which finances the construction of new housing But both budgets have to be ultimately approved by the City Council disclosed Weisbrod That can introduce complicated tradeoffs The mayor everybody says that they want affordable housing but they also want libraries and schools and parks and all of those other things revealed Been As deputy mayor Been recalls being confused when the de Blasio administration put out a budget proposal with cuts to libraries We have to go through this dance because we have to be able to satisfy the City Council We ve given to their projects but then they get a lot of pressure from the libraries and then we can then take particular back from what they got in order to give to the libraries The mayor also sets procedures priorities for agencies whether they focus on housing production preservation or homelessness Once the budget is passed then the mayor has enormous control over how it s really spent disclosed Weisbrod The state meanwhile controls key tax incentives like x where developers get a tax abatement in exchange for affordable units essential given the high costs of building housing experts say a the predecessor of x was used to produce percent of new units from to according to the Furman Center Mamdani s plan calls for major capital investments in housing borrowing billion in bonds up from the billion the city has already pledged That may require asking the state for permission to borrow billion in municipal bonds above the city s current debt limit Separately he hopes to raise revenue for programs through an increase in corporate taxes and on the percent That would require getting the governor and Albany on board Gov Kathy Hochul expressed an openness to work with the presumptive democratic nominee on X last week But she remained skeptical about tax increases as she faces reelection next year If it gives you sticker shock it s because our housing emergency is really acute and it s going to take really dramatic action disclosed Torres-Springer New housing under construction in Harlem in Photo by Adi Talwar Land use scars The mayor has power to activate city-owned land in the five boroughs But broader changes to where the city can build housing and how much it can build on any given parcel require extensive review by the populace and collaboration with the City Council And ultimately the city s land use powers are limited to what the state permits it to control Weisbrod was encouraged to see growing consensus among candidates that the city necessities to produce more affordable housing leveraging citizens ceiling and also the private sector through zoning changes Housing executives say working with the private sector is essential to getting anything built Establishment can t do it alone either There aren t enough dollars announced Torres-Springer Mamdani changed his tune on leveraging the private area in housing construction in an interview with the New York Times that caught the eye of countless housing wonks I clearly recognize now that there is a very central role for the private sector to be played and one that city administration must facilitate through the increasing of density around mass transit hubs the ending of the requirement to build parking lots as well as the need to upzone neighborhoods that have historically not contributed to affordable housing production namely wealthier neighborhoods Mamdani reported Eric Adams administration s City of Yes passed in January allowed more housing density in neighborhoods across the city I m hoping that what made the City of Yes feasible and the rezonings that have been approved is not a flash in the pan commented Torres-Springer But City of Yes displayed that zoning revision is no easy task As City Limits communicated in January what began as a proposal to spur new units was chopped down to as it moved through City Council review with powerful councilmembers carving their own districts out from particular of the changes Further complicating matters Mayor Adams was then facing a corruption indictment from the Department of Justice the event has since been controversially dropped The final City of Yes deal included a pledge of billion for new housing infrastructure upgrades and tenant protection measures billion from Mayor Adams and billion from the state It required a very smart strategic nuanced political strategy and set of partnerships with people in the City Council and with the governor to get it over the finish line mentioned Torres-Springer Sometimes zoning changes are initiated by private developers who want to rezone a particular parcel Other times the mayor and city agencies initiate larger neighborhood rezonings as the Adams administration has done in the Bronx Atlantic Avenue Midtown South and Long Island City But they almost inevitably ignite local resistance It s something Mayor Adams Charter Revision Commission in its initial findings wants to tackle with several proposals to speed up the process for approving and building housing In addition to streamlining ULURP it takes aim at an informal City Council practice that has held up housing production in the past member deference Under the norm the Council won t push through a land use issue unless the local councilmember is on board Those negotiations between the city elected leaders and local groups can be complicated Sometimes as Been recalled it requires getting the state involved For example if there s a rezoning and the local group wants to secure improvements to a state-owned park in the deal it means calling up Albany I just don t think people understand how interwoven it all is and you ve got to be negotiating on all of those different fronts commented Been The mayor is beholden to the state in so a multitude of methods Those extensive negotiations create plenty of veto points Sometimes they effect in tangible benefits for the group like more affordable units But other times they slow the pace of housing construction to a crawl Every project that has to go through the land use process you can either see the best of our politics in New York or the worst of it revealed Torres-Springer The next mayor will likely have to tackle fundings cuts from the federal regime Official White House photo by Molly Riley Fretting over the Feds New York City is heavily reliant on the federal regime to fund rental assistance building repairs homelessness programs and more NYCHA is particularly vulnerable as it gets percent of its funding from the federal regime and has faced decades of disinvestment already The better that relationship with both the president and the Congress the better mentioned Weisbrod But as we re seeing and as we ve really seen over the sweep of my last years the federal executive irrespective of party or ideology or personality has in specific areas just totally withdrawn from housing program Congressional Republicans Big Beautiful Bill which narrowly passed the house Thursday sharply cuts medicaid and SNAP assistance programs that are essential to addressing homelessness The cuts mean that the state might have to fill holes in the safety net possibly at the expense of housing and homelessness programs Fundamentally this is an issue of money declared Weisbrod emphasizing that strong leadership matters the greater part in times of dilemma and budget shortfalls It s dependably easy to say we ll do more with less but really what it means is can we use our less more efficiently as opposed to really doing more because in the housing area money is the driver More cuts proposed in President Donald Trump s budget for the next fiscal year and being considered by Congress in the coming months would change the way New York gets money for housing allocating it via a block grant rather than through the subsidy programs that as of now promotion hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers Should that come to pass a good relationship between the next mayor and Albany will be even more essential If the states are getting the federal money and it s the states who are deciding how to allocate that federal money then you know you really have to be able to get along with your governor noted Been While it won t be easy experts hope the momentum around housing approach brings tangible results under the next administration I think a path-breakingly diverse coalition made their preferences known Primary balloting night That s the type of endorsement and coalition building that makes politics easier for anyone commented Torres-Springer To reach the reporter behind this story contact Patrick citylimits org To reach the editor contact Jeanmarie citylimits org Want to republish this story Find City Limits reprint initiative here The post What NYC s Next Mayor Can And Can t Do About Housing Affordability appeared first on City Limits