Mamdani's plan to squash private landlords will be nothing but a disaster for tenants

The housing plan identifies a shortage of decent, affordable homes and assigns blame to greedy landlords. The proposed approach emphasizes transferring as much ownership as possible to government and community groups, with many homes run by nonprofit organizations or the city. The plan targets building and preserving 400,000 affordable homes over a decade at a stated cost of $22 billion. It also sets construction labor requirements with minimum combined wages and benefits and expands project labor agreements. It includes enforcement against landlord violations and a rent freeze. The plan is criticized for producing fewer homes per dollar, worsening financial strain on rent-stabilized buildings, and failing to address repair needs as foreclosures increase.

"Hizzoner blames Gotham's housing woes on greedy landlords, so his "solution" is to hand as much ownership as possible to government and community groups. Hello? Try to find a single New York City Housing Authority tenant who likes having government as their landlord - and waiting months or years for, say, an elevator to get fixed. Yet Mamdani plans to build and preserve 400,000 "affordable homes" over the next decade, at a whopping cost of $22 billion - with many run by nonprofit groups or the city itself. This guarantees disaster."

"Sorry: Reagan shelled out $1.1 billion for day-to-day operations of public authorities in 1983; by 2023, Washington spent $5.1 billion - a five-fold spike (far above inflation). Meanwhile, much of Mamdani's plan is more of a jobs program: He wants all construction work here to pay combined wages and benefits of at least $40 an hour and to "expand project labor agreements" (effectively, union-dictated terms) for new developments. Great: So the city will get the fewest number of homes built for every dollar spent."

"He also vows to crack down on landlord violations, which is OK - except that the overwhelming number of serious violations are in largely rent-stabilized buildings, where rental incomes barely cover costs. The mayor's rent freeze will make that worse - and any new owner (public, private or nonprofit) will face the same grim math. Indeed, thousands of such buildings now face foreclosure, with more and more landlords behind on their mortgages. How does Mamdani expect them to make repairs?"

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