NEW YORK (AP) — Andrew Cuomo is pressing his opponent in the New York City mayoral race, Zohran Mamdani, to leave his rent-stabilized apartment, while advocating for a largely unsuccessful proposal to prevent other middle-class tenants from accessing much of the city’s housing.
“I am calling on you to move out immediately,” Cuomo posted on social media over the weekend, describing Mamdani as “a very rich person” occupying an apartment that could otherwise be allocated to a homeless family.
This attack attracted tens of millions of online views and reignited a longstanding debate about who should have access to New York’s coveted rent-stabilized units, constituting about 40% of the city’s rental market and currently available to individuals of all income levels.
The tactic also demonstrated the rhetorical efforts Cuomo is willing to employ as he embarks on an independent campaign for mayor against Mamdani, a democratic socialist who previously defeated him resoundingly in the Democratic primary with a platform focused on affordability and freezing rent on stabilized units.
Mamdani, who earns an annual salary of $143,000 as a state legislator, states he pays $2,300 monthly for a one-bedroom apartment in Queens shared with his wife — a situation Cuomo deemed “disgusting.”
Conversely, Cuomo, a multimillionaire and former state governor, spends approximately $8,000 per month on a Midtown Manhattan apartment, having relocated there last year from Westchester County, a prosperous suburb.
In recent weeks, the 67-year-old Cuomo has adopted a more aggressive social media presence, earning both praise and mockery for his use of millennial internet-speak and repeated references to his opponent’s “privilege.” Mamdani’s mother is a successful independent filmmaker and his father is a Columbia University professor.
On Monday, Cuomo went a step further, releasing a formal proposal, which he dubbed “Zohran’s Law,” barring landlords from leasing vacant rent stabilized units to “wealthy tenants,” defined as those who would pay less than 30% of their income toward the existing rent.
The rent regulation program, which caps how much landlords can raise rent each year on roughly 1 million apartments, does not currently include any income restrictions — something opponents have long pushed to change.
While the average rent stabilized household makes $60,000 annually, it is not uncommon for middle- or higher-income New Yorkers to live in the units, which sometimes rent for several thousand dollars per month.
But Cuomo’s idea drew swift skepticism from some housing experts, who noted the cap would, by definition, mean all new tenants of rent stabilized units would give up a substantial portion of their income.
“The idea that we should only have people living in apartments they can’t afford seems to be setting people up for failure,” said Ellen Davidson, a housing attorney at The Legal Aid Society. “It’s not a proposal from somebody who knows anything about the housing market or New York City.”
The Real Estate Board of New York, a landlord group whose members overwhelmingly backed Cuomo in the primary, did not respond to an inquiry about whether they supported the proposal. But in an email, the group’s president, James Whelan, said that the “benefits of rent regulation are not well targeted” and that some form of means testing should be considered.
Under state law, hikes on rent-stabilized units are decided by an appointed board, rather than landlords.
“Rent stabilization has never been means tested because it’s not an affordable housing program, it’s a program about neighborhood stability,” said Davidson, the housing attorney, adding that the proposal would likely present a “bureaucratic nightmare.”
A spokesperson for Cuomo’s campaign, Rich Azzopardi, said in a text message that “the ultra wealthy and privileged should not be taking advantage of a program meant to aide working New Yorkers,” adding that the income threshold standards would fall under the same system that governs the city’s other programs for low-income housing.
Mamdani’s spokesperson, Dora Pekec, said the proposal proved that Cuomo was both desperate and out of touch.
“While Cuomo cares only for the well-being of his Republican donors, Zohran believes city government’s job is to guarantee a life of dignity, not determine who is worth one,” she added.
