Last week, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams embarked on a tour spotlighting properties he labeled as belonging to the city’s most notorious landlords. Among the 80 buildings he highlighted was 80 Woodruff Ave. in Queens. Williams criticized the owner, who has claimed they are grappling with escalating property taxes, insurance costs, and tenants who default on rent payments, even after improvements are made.

However, Williams may have overlooked several other troubled sites. Tenants living at 1305 Loring Ave. in Brooklyn, 1635 E. 174th St. in the Bronx, and 1835 Lexington Ave. in Manhattan reported being without gas this month. Additionally, residents in multi-story buildings such as 3031 W. 25th St. in Brooklyn and 310 E. 115th St. in Manhattan faced non-functioning elevators, affecting many elderly tenants. These properties are also frequently plagued by outages of heat, hot water, and electricity.

Interestingly, these buildings are managed not by the criticized private landlords, but by the New York City Housing Authority, the city government entity for which Williams works.

Williams, alongside Mayor Mamdani, seems to view private property ownership as inherently flawed, advocating instead for “social housing” as a solution. This perspective aligns with the mayor’s proposal to create 200,000 government-sponsored housing units. In the coming weeks, Mamdani plans to continue his scrutiny of private landlords through a “rental ripoff” tour across the city’s five boroughs, which could serve as public trials for property owners.

Meanwhile, the New York City Housing Authority, the largest landlord in the city, is the subject of numerous complaints. Recently, there were 400 reports in one week alone concerning issues with heat, hot water, and elevator outages. The authority manages 177,000 units and is often criticized for “chronic neglect,” a term used by the Community Service Society. Their website features a section dedicated to tracking service interruptions.

These persistent issues raise questions about the effectiveness of government-managed housing and might prompt a reevaluation by those who advocate for it.

Since 2019, NYCHA has been the subject of a federal monitor, as the result of persistent problems with mold, lead paint, heat and elevators. As the Authority’s 2025 financial statement puts it understatedly, “NYCHA is not yet in full compliance with the requirements of the Agreement.”

Progressives assert that public housing’s problems are the result of declining federal government support for the system. But, since 2015, federal support for NYCHA has been increasing, 2014-24, from $934 million to $1.5 billion operating subsidy. Meanwhile, NYCHA, facing billions in repair needs, can’t even keep its annual operating budget in the black, running a $4.49 million loss. 

One notable reason: tenants not paying rent, a problem both for public and private landlords in the city, where eviction is near-impossible thanks to extreme tenant protection laws and a COVID-era hangover. As the Authority puts it, operating losses are linked to “decreased tenant rent revenues, and increased employee entitlement costs.” The combination of non-paying tenants and a public employee workforce enjoying generous pension and health benefits is a recipe for red ink. The Authority increased its rent revenues in 2024, not because more tenants paid on time, but because of COVID bailout funds.

The current NYCHA management, led by Lisa Bova-Hiatt, is playing a bad hand reasonably well, emphasizing the need for new capital funding through the state’s Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program, which channels private capital into the repair of projects — although only if tenants vote to approve. They have even moved to sell off land for private development, as in the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses, part of whose site will be developed for market rate housing in a high-end neighborhood. 

These are welcome, if partial, steps toward ameliorating the chronic maintenance problems of city-owned housing. But the fact that they are necessary should underscore the folly of repeating the mistake of government housing, not doubling down on it. Keep in mind that originally, NYCHA housing was meant to be self-supporting, through the rent payments of tenants.

Imagine if the November boiler explosion and building collapse at the Mitchel Houses in the Bronx had happened at a privately-owned apartment complex. Mamdani and Williams would likely have denounced the owner and held an outraged press conference. Instead, it was just an extreme example of the overlooked maintenance problems that occur every day in the country’s largest public housing system.

Rather than advocating for more government housing and demonizing private landlords, City Hall should be working with owners to help ensure that tenants pay rent — the oxygen of building maintenance — and that rising property taxes do not put the squeeze on struggling owners in the outer boroughs. In other words, work with private low-income housing landlords, rather than against them

Denouncing landlords will not solve New York’s housing crisis. It won’t even help tenants. 

Husock is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.