Mamdani Takes Over Reddit With Public Q&A

NEW YORK, NY — Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Deputy Mayor for Housing Leila Bozorg, and Cea Weaver of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants fielded questions from New Yorkers in a public forum on Reddit focused on the city’s housing crisis. Here is a selection of questions and answers in their original wording:

Questions And Answers With City Officials On Reddit

Q: A study by thePew Charitable Trusts found that every US city which grew its housing stock by 10 percent over 6 years saw a decrease in rents. For New York City, that would mean building about 400,000 units of housing, an average of 67,000 units per year. That is more than double what the city is building now. Is the Mamdani administration aligned on building that many homes? If so, what are the steps required to make it happen?

A: Mamdani
I'm glad you brought up this study, because the evidence is absolutely clear— we need to build much more housing to address the housing crisis. And to be clear, our 200,000 unit goal is specific to city-supported affordable housing. It is not the total amount of housing we want, or expect, to be built in our city across the next ten years.

We’re working on a variety of programs to build more housing in New York: direct subsidies, new financing mechanisms, land use changes, and much more. In the first hundred days alone, we’ve already approved nearly 2,500 homes through rezonings – and we’re just getting started.

Two of the first executive orders I signed (on day one of our administration!) created the SPEED & LIFT Task Forces to encourage housing construction on city-owned land & cut red tape to help New Yorkers find homes faster. We’re getting the results of these two task forces in the coming weeks and I’m excited to share more details (and roll out our upcoming housing plan) later this spring.”

Q: Mr. Mayor, now that you are leading the city, many homeowners are concerned about the transition from your 'Tax the Rich' assembly platform to citywide property tax policy. For those of us who own a home but aren't anywhere near billionaire status, what specific protections are you implementing to ensure we aren't hit with massive tax hikes intended for the ultra-wealthy?

A: Mamdani
When I say we need to tax the rich, I’m talking about the wealthiest 1% of New Yorkers and the most profitable corporations. Our priority is working with Albany to both raise that revenue and also end the drain that has long been the state’s fiscal relationship with the city. When we put forward our budgets though—whether preliminary (released on Feb 17), executive (in May), and adopted (in June)—we have to balance it by law and can only rely on already announced funding commitments or tools exclusively within the City’s power—whether cutting services or utilizing the authority to raise the only tax we can do ourselves: the property tax. It is a tool of last resort, one that we have spent every day since our preliminary budget looking to avoid so that we aren’t putting the burden of a generational fiscal crisis on the backs of working and middle class New Yorkers that had nothing to with creating it.

Q: Mayor Mamdani and team, thanks for taking questions, particularly in a forum that might not be considered not the most friendly to you.

I've been renting in NYC my entire adult life, across several different boroughs, so I genuinely appreciate the work you're doing and have done in the past to make renting here more stable (e.g. the good cause eviction law that Director Weaver advocated for). I'm now within striking distance of finally being able to buy a home in NYC, something that's been my dream for years. But one thing that's been discouraging me (among others, such as stubborn interest rates and financial instability caused by the federal government) is my concern about your administration's views on homeownership in NYC. Director Weaver in particular has forcefully argued that homeownership is a bad thing. It leaves me concerned that your administration might be hostile to people like me who want to go from renter to homeowner, and that that hostility might at some point translate into policy. I'm not exaggerating when I say that it's genuinely giving me second thoughts about whether I should buy a home here, or potentially start looking elsewhere.

Is this something I should be considering when thinking about buying a home in NYC? Is your administration as opposed to homeownership as your appointments have me worried you are? Is there anything you're going to do to make buying or maintaining a home more difficult, or easier?

Thanks!

A: Weaver
Hey – thank you for the question! One of the great things that homeownership and rent stabilization have in common is the stability that residents get, and that’s what I’ve been fighting for as Director of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants. The Mayor’s been clear that whether you rent or own, you should be able to afford to build a life in New York City, and that’s what we’re working to deliver.

I want to be clear: I’m not hostile to homeownership, and think the stability it offers to so many is great. But there is no question that homeownership has been accessible to certain people on the basis of race at the expense of others, and that has to change. Over the past hundred days alone, we’ve made big strides in that effort: We paused the FY2026 property tax lien sale, which for years had disproportionately pushed Black and brown homeowners New Yorkers to the brink of losing homes that had been in their family for years. We’ve increased the accessibility and affordability of Accessory Dwelling Units, allowing homeowners to build a second property and generate a little extra income. We’re also planning to create an Office of Deed Theft Prevention soon, meant to tackle a disgraceful and corrupt practice that has preyed upon homeowners.

Q: A second question on reducing constructions costs - has the administration started the process on trying to align our building codes with peer global cities? We can help improve the quality of life of apartment dwellers plus drive down costs.

Somethings for consideration: "The State should repeal New York’s exceptional Scaffold Law and adopt the liability standards used in every other state in the country"

"But in other cases, requirements are motivated by factors, such as job preservation, that also drive up costs. For example, the plumbing code requires metal rather than plastic piping, commonly used in other cities, in buildings of six or more stories. Similarly, the electrical code requires specific metal conduits for wiring."

Elevators.

Our lack of elevators is one that is extremely important - seniors and pregnant women having to deal with walk-ups is a huge quality of life issue. Can be quite dangerous as well.

A: Bozorg
We’re definitely taking a hard look at the costs of constructing and maintaining housing. As you and the CBC report have mentioned, these costs come from a huge variety of different regulations, so there isn’t one single fix that could solve everything – but those costs add up, for sure.

We’re working with our partners in the City Council to look at these regulations and where they can be simplified without compromising safety. We made an announcement about new rules that will reduce the costs of sheds, for example, which is implementing a package of bills that the City Council passed last year.

And separately, one of the (many!) reasons that we should be adding new housing is that it is generally more accessible for those with disabilities than older housing.

Q: Tough question with perhaps no easy solution, but I think it's a very important question and underdiscussed problem:

What can be done to fix the long housing court delays, especially the year-plus long eviction process in Brooklyn and the Bronx? It's an unfortunate fact that it's extremely easy to take advantage of the current system and not pay for housing for over 12 months in some boroughs, and this is a huge risk to landlords - a risk they compensate for by passing on the cost to other renters. While most non-payment renters are truly struggling, there are people who don't pay because it's economically the right choice, even though they could

Can we do anything to separate the non-paying renters who truly need help from the non-paying renters who are gaming the system? Eliminating the latter would greatly help with bringing costs down for the honest rent payers of NYC.

A: Weaver
I visited Housing Court this morning, actually. It clearly isn’t working for anybody— many cases are immediately adjourned for months because the first time most people get an attorney is when they show up in court or because it takes weeks and weeks to verify if conditions in apartments exist. We’re looking at a lot of potential solutions: easier access to counsel earlier to prevent unnecessary adjournments, helping providers reach people earlier, speeding up our social service programs, etc.

Q: I have been a rent stabilized tenant at my current residence since 2009 but i am currently struggling with mold exposure that has led to me being hospitalized (last week.) I have paid my own money for mold testing that came back positive and i am currently struggling to get my landlord to respond with any urgency.

Can i stop paying rent, are there any resources for this situation or am i just expected to move at my own costs and expense (and lose the rent stabilization i have worked to maintain)while this medical time bomb ticks for someone else?**

A: Cea Weaver
That’s awful -- I am so sorry to hear that. It's very important to report this issue to 311, as recording a violation will be critical evidence as you pursue further action to resolve this condition. Mold is considered a hazardous violation and your landlord will be ordered by the City to correct. (I know it’s easy to get 311 fatigue, and we’re working to improve how the City responds to complaints! It’s still the best tool to get directed to the right City agency.)

As a rent stabilized tenant, you can also file for a reduction in your rent due to a lack of services using form RA-81.

Finally, you can take your landlord to Housing Court to seek correction. You can do this yourself at the Housing Court in your borough. Housing Court Answers is in every court building to walk you through the process.

Q: The city needs to build a lot more housing— there's a lot of questions about new ways to do this, but I'd like to discuss some of the changes that are already mid-process, especially SEQRA reform. What's the best way for ordinary people to get involved in reforming the state's environmental review process, so that we can build more housing faster?

A: Mamdani
Right now, the ball is in Albany’s court because SEQRA reform is being considered as a part of the state budget process. There are a lot of moving pieces in the budget, so it’s helpful for your state reps to know that this matters to you. It definitely matters to us — we cannot deliver on the affordability agenda with the urgency that New Yorkers deserve if affordable housing is tied up in red tape from environmental review. Today, this process can take as much as two years and add tens of thousands of dollars in cost — that’s time and money we should be using for actually supporting affordable housing, not paperwork.