(WABC) — Mayor Zohran Mamdani laid out a plan on Tuesday to fulfill his campaign promise to build 200,000 affordable homes over the next decade in New York City.
He spoke at an event in Gowanus, Brooklyn, to reveal the details of his Block by Block plan, which includes three planks: Building new homes, tenant protections and overhauling NYCHA.
“We can keep people in their homes, and we can build the homes that they need to live, we have spoken about this crisis long enough, it is now time to do something about it,” Mamdani said.
Under plank one, the city will build 200,000 new, affordable and rent-stabilized homes and preserve and stabilize another 200,000 homes.
This will involve a $22 billion investment throughout the next five years.
And there will be zoning code changes to help make it easier to build and buy a home.
The rental ripoff hearings Mamdani held earlier this year inspired plank number two.
It creates a legislative task force to overhaul the city’s maintenance code and improve how 311 investigates complains.
When heat season begins on Oct. 1, every single complaint will be investigated. And when necessary, the city will take legal action to remove negligent landlords.
As for NYCHA, the city plans to spend $5.6 billion in the next five years to make much-needed renovations and do it quickly so people don’t have to wait years for basic repairs.
The mayor oversees NYCHA, with money coming from federal, state and city coffers.
NYCHA has more than 170,000 apartments throughout 335 developments and many of them were built decades ago.
The biggest critics of the mayor’s plan have been landlords and real estate developers, who say any rent freeze puts the squeeze on them to pay for rising costs and maintenance of the city’s affordable housing stock, which is already dwindling due to bankruptcies and foreclosures.
“That is causing apartments like the one that I am in to sit empty and it’s causing these building valuations to fall off a cliff,” said NY Apartment Association CEO Kenny Burgos.
Meanwhile, Mamdani stocked his press conference with many supporters, including tenants, who say they’re hopeful he can bring meaningful change, particularly for the most painful problems in NYCHA buildings.
“Oh my God, where do I start? Mold! Like, actually, the building separating. Water leaks…like it’s raining, there’s icicles in the apartments in wintertime,” said Brooklyn tenant Bibiana Mancero.
Critics point out that fixing the city’s NYCHA buildings would take more like $80 billion, making the mayor’s investment seem like a drop in the bucket. They also say without more incentive, developers may not create the affordable housing boom the city needs.
