Mamdani Rolls Out $22B Housing Plan, Boosting Development While Upping Enforcement

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani released his housing agenda Tuesday, setting a goal of developing 200,000 new housing units over the next decade and preserving 200,000 more, while increasing enforcement on landlords of deteriorating buildings and expanding pathways for the city to seize problematic properties and steer them to new owners.

The sweeping housing plan, dubbed “Block by Block,” is a 112-page document that lays out an array of policy proposals — some of which are already in motion — aimed at tackling the city's housing crisis. In addition to development, preservation and enforcement, a significant chunk of the plan is dedicated to the New York City Housing Authority and to programs combating homelessness.

“At a moment when working people are being pushed out of the city they built, New York cannot afford half-measures or delays,” Mamdani said in a statement. “This plan meets the housing crisis with the urgency it demands.”

City Hall proposed backing the plan with $22B of capital investment over the next five years. That funding would be spread out across myriad programs, including $2.5B for new development of affordable housing in each of the next two years, $1B for supportive housing, support for NYCHA to pursue ground-up developments, and piling more money into the Department of Housing Preservation and Development for its preservation efforts.

While not mentioned in the document, the city also plans to allow some landlords to implement one-time rent increases on vacant, stabilized units, even if the Rent Guidelines Board approves a freeze on rent increases next month, Mamdani said at a press conference Tuesday. Those increases would be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Mamdani also proposed citywide zoning changes to spur more development, including density increases around transit stations in all five boroughs and changes in the way city-owned land can be developed.

“New York’s housing crisis demands urgency, ambition, and real action,” New York Building Congress CEO Carlo Scissura said in a statement. “The Mayor’s housing plan meets the moment by putting housing production where it belongs: at the top of the city’s agenda.”

The first chapter in the housing agenda, however, centers on enforcement. Mamdani proposed rolling out a set of proposals including scheduling “roof to cellar” inspections of buildings with their tenants, rather than owners; pursuing more criminal charges against landlords who are chronically negligent; and working with lenders to “force compliance or immediately begin foreclosure proceedings.”

There are several pages devoted to tenant unions and associations, a rising force in the city that Mamdani's administration has vociferously supported.

“Tenants organized to take back our city and elected a mayor who pledged to deliver for us, the people who make NYC run,” NYS Tenant Bloc Director Sumathy Kumar said in a statement. “This Housing Plan is a roadmap, and to realize its promise tenants must get organized with our neighbors and build power in our homes.”

The city also plans to kick off discussions to expand the use of Project Labor Agreements in city-financed affordable housing developments. A recently passed city law also guarantees workers a minimum $40-per-hour wage on city-backed projects. 

The PLA section of the housing plan drew the only specific critique in the official response of the city's biggest real estate lobby, the Real Estate Board of New York. REBNY President James Whelan said in a statement that the group is “reviewing and assessing” the wide-ranging plan.

“At a time when we need to build as much housing as possible, we question why the City would choose to make projects more expensive to build and finance through the addition of costly and inflexible Project Labor Agreements,” Whelan said. “New York won’t solve its housing supply crisis by undercutting its own laudable production goals.” 

There are a handful of proposals of relief for owners of rent-stabilized buildings that aren't backed by city subsidies. The plan mentions the $100M city-backed insurance program Mamdani announced last month that is expected to kick in next year and cover 20,000 regulated units, expanding to 100,000 by 2030.

The city also announced it has changed the way rent-stabilized buildings are valued, which would reduce their property taxes by an average of 1.3% in fiscal year 2027, with plans to further explore rent-regulated tax reform.

But the plan also mentioned that the city's Unlocking Doors pilot program, launched in 2023 and expanded last year to provide $50K in funding to upgrade vacant, low-cost units, has received zero completed applications. 

“I am genuinely disappointed,” New York Apartment Association CEO Kenny Burgos said in a statement. “This mayor has talked a big game on fixing housing, but this proposal is severely lacking. At a time when there is clear public support for better housing policy, he appears to have ignored the most immediate crisis facing his administration: the severe fiscal distress in stabilized housing.”