Can Mamdani Pay For It? A Numbers-First Reality Check on the Mayoral Candidate's Agenda

"New York mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani, holds a campaign event with the healthcare worker's union outside of St. Barnabas Hospital at the Bronx on September 24, 2025. Stephanie Keith/Getty Images. Zohran Mamdani's mayoral platform rests on a compact set of major commitments: a rent freeze; a 200,000-unit public housing build; universal childcare; free buses; the creation of a Department of Community Safety to expand non-policing responses; and higher taxes on the city's wealthiest households and corporations to fund the entire package."

"The president of the Citizens Budget Commission in New York, Andrew Rein, tells the New York Sun that any serious discussion of the candidate's program must begin with its scope. "We're talking about billions of dollars before any expansion. New York City and New York State don't actually control all of that structure," he said. "If you want to make progress on affordability - whether housing, rent, childcare, and related issues - you need a meaningful long-term strategy.""

"Mr. Mamdani has pledged to deliver 200,000 permanently affordable, union-built homes over a 10-year period, alongside a rent freeze. The campaign estimates the cost of the housing program at approximately $100 billion. To determine whether that is realistic requires looking at per-unit costs. Recent projects demonstrate the cost of building affordable housing in New York. A 2023 East New York development backed by Goldman Sachs delivered 385 apartments at a total cost of $270 million,"

Zohran Mamdani's mayoral platform centers on a rent freeze; construction of 200,000 permanently affordable, union-built homes over ten years; universal childcare; free buses; creation of a Department of Community Safety to expand non-policing responses; and higher taxes on the city's wealthiest households and corporations to fund the package. Each promise appears simple in campaign language but involves complex budgetary, construction-market, and transit-operational arithmetic. Officials warn the program requires billions in funding and that New York City and State do not control all fiscal levers. Recent projects show roughly $700,000 per unit after land and commercial space.

Read at The New York Sun