Next week, on Thursday, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani will kick off the first of his “Rental Ripoff Hearings” in downtown Brooklyn. The Mayor’s office has billed the hearings as an opportunity for tenants in the city to “share their experiences with poor housing conditions and unfair business practices in their homes.”
Oddly, this forum for complaints will not be open to the 511,384 New Yorkers living in public housing run by the New York City Housing Authority, according to The New York Post. The city has instead encouraged tenants to testify about “junk fees” they’ve incurred, including for pet ownership, access to certain amenities (likely pools and gyms), and the use of payment services.
Jumaane Williams, a New York City public advocate, recently ranked the Authority as the worst landlord in the city. Williams told PIX11, the Authority would “far surpass anyone on the list, but they’re public.” He also added that “perpetual mismanagement” of the agency had “made the city itself the worst overall landlord for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers.”
Despite being under federal scrutiny since 2019, the Authority continues to “exercise questionable judgment,” according to Bart Schwartz, the federal monitor appointed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
It’s 335 developments have amassed a repair bill of over $78 billion, roughly the equivalent of Ukraine’s GDP. Since repair costs fall on the property owner, landlords in rent-controlled or stabilized properties could be on the hook for more than $100,000 per renovation, based on current repair costs in the city.
While Mamdani made increased government control of the rental market a pillar of his campaign platform, policies such as rent control and rent stabilization have had a detrimental effect on the city’s housing stock. (RELATED: Mamdani’s Rent Control Plans Will Make the Rental Market Worse for Working People)
New York’s rent stabilization laws cap rents even when apartments are empty. If the cap is too low, landlords will often leave apartments vacant rather than lose money by renting at below-market rates. (RELATED: Why Is Congress Importing New York’s Housing Failures? )
Of course, this has the added effect of reducing the available housing supply, the very thing rent stabilization is supposed to prevent.
Mamdani’s pledge to freeze rent for New York’s one million rent-stabilized apartments would merely exacerbate the city’s affordable housing crisis…
With nearly 50,000 vacant rent-stabilized apartments, Mamdani’s pledge to freeze rent for New York’s one million rent-stabilized apartments would merely exacerbate the city’s affordable housing crisis while discouraging landlords and developers from investing in their properties.
Rent control is similarly counterproductive. With reduced profit margins, landlords react by converting rentals into condos, neglecting maintenance, or leaving the market. The knock-on effect is an increase in rental prices for unregulated units. (RELATED: What Doctor Zhivago Teaches Us About New York City’s Housing Debate)
Ironically, Mamdani’s administration acknowledged as much in a recent court battle over the bankruptcy sale of 5,100 rent-stabilized apartments owned by Pinnacle Real Estate Group.
While contesting Summit Real Estate’s bid to purchase the rent-stabilized units, city attorneys said it was “unclear whether Summit would be able to handle repairs and maintenance,” pay its debts, and earn a profit, given that “rents are regulated in most of the apartments.” Mamdani has reserved his ire for private landlords, exempting the Authority and its partners from the same scrutiny.
Mamdani and his allies have blamed the Trump administration’s federal funding cuts for the Authority’s issues. However, Schwartz disputed this characterization, saying the Authority did not “need the money.” Instead, he cited the “lack of effective governance, ethics, and accountability” as the main obstacles preventing the Authority’s improvement.
By excluding the Authority from these hearings, Mamdani hopes to shield programs with long-standing issues, such as the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together — which allows the city to outsource the management of some of its public housing to private developers — from the accountability he demands of private landlords.
Altogether, tenants in public housing run by the New York City Housing Authority occupy 11 percent of the city’s rental apartments.
As mayor, it’s unreasonable for Mamdani to exclude a tenth of the city’s rental population from a discussion on housing conditions, especially as the properties in question are directly under his jurisdiction.
READ MORE from Tosin Akintola:
San Francisco Teachers Put Salary Before Students