We have a new mayor… Now what?

Plus, we explain how rent controls lead to market paralysis and a tale of two cities.

And we have an exciting new partnership to tell you about. 

This is your New York Apartment Association weekly update with CEO Kenny Burgos.

Check out the latest edition of Housing New York Magazine

Follow @housingny on Instagram X TikTok YouTube & Substack 

Send us questions or comments at podcast@housingny.org 

On The Agenda

1:14: Mamdani won. Now what?

3:13: Recap: Somos 2025

4:27: Rent freezes have consequences the world over

6:03: NYAA joins the National Apartment Association 

7:00: Uptown turkey giveaway 🦃

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Transcript

 This week on Housing New York, we have a new mayor. Now what? We discuss what life may be like under Mayor Mamdani. Plus, we see more evidence that the solution to housing is simple — just build more. And we have some announcements to make — new partnerships and an upcoming Turkey giveaway to tell you about.

Let's start Housing New York.

[THEME] 

“We need 800,000 units to meet the demand today. What we have right now in the United States and what we have right now in New York City is almost a crisis of absurdity. Hundreds of thousands of renters are at risk, and there is literally no plan. The distress of rent-stabilized buildings is going to be one of the biggest stories for the next 12-18 months.”

[INTRO]

Welcome back to Housing New York. I'm your host, Kenny Burgos, CEO of the New York Apartment Association. What was the longest government shutdown in U.S. History has finally come to a close and I'm personally grateful to see federal workers finally get paid for the work they carry out, to see families get their food benefits back, and for airline travel to finally be restored.

Okay, onto the news.

[01:14] [Mamdani won. Now what?]

New York just elected its first Democratic Socialist mayor in decades — a candidate who promised to freeze the rent. Making the promise was easy; governing won't be. 

When Zohran Mamdani takes office in January, the RGB rent vote will still be months away. In the meantime, he will inherit a housing landscape that's complex, costly and deeply divided.

Start with public housing: 180,000 apartments, $78 billion in needed repairs and no clear funding plan. Mamdani says he'll quote, “Make the lights shine again,” end quote, in NYCHA. But without new revenue that promise will be hard to keep, and it doesn't look like federal funding support is coming anytime soon.

Then there's the Elizabeth Street Garden, the small patch of green space that's become a political minefield. The city has tried for over a decade to replace it with affordable housing. Courts sided with developers; public pressure killed the project. Mamdani has acknowledged the uphill battle, and neighbors have said they'll fight him every step of the way.

On Airbnb, he backed a crackdown that wiped out most short-term rentals, but now with the World Cup coming, homeowners and Airbnb are pushing to ease the rules — a test of how far he's willing to bend. 

Finally, Washington itself may be Mamdani’s toughest opponent. President Trump has made it clear he plans to cut back on federal housing and social supports, from vouchers to food benefits. That means the city could be left to fill a multi-billion dollar gap, draining an already-stretched budget. 

All this leads to rent-stabilized housing and his signature issue: a rent freeze. Nonprofits that run many of these buildings are calling for hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies to bail them out if rents aren't going to go up. That money is going to have to come from somewhere. Will Mamdani cut education funding to save these buildings? Or the police budget? Or parks and libraries? He has some really difficult choices ahead of him. 

So yes, Mamdani won on his rent freeze campaign, but fixing housing will be the real test. 

[03:13] [Somos 2025] 

Speaking of housing conversations beyond City Hall, NYAA just got back from Puerto Rico. My team and I were there a couple of weeks ago for the Somos Conference, a great opportunity for our organization to have honest discussions about the problems facing rent-stabilized housing. 

Many NYAA staffers were in attendance and we struck up conversations with a host of elected officials, government workers and civic leaders.

For those of you who don't know, Somos is the unofficial start – or restart – of the political season. It is right after the elections and in many ways serves as a reset button. Conversations in San Juan become lobbying meetings in Albany, and then become bills that are introduced and potentially included in the budget — or pass at the end of the year.

We had a lot of meaningful conversations about what's happening in rent-stabilized housing right now. One big takeaway was how much awareness there is around rent-stabilized distress. Nearly everyone we spoke to had heard about it and many tied it to the rent-freeze conversation. 

For me, Somos was about connection — getting in the room, sharing what we're seeing on the ground and finding partners who want to help fix it, and I definitely see opportunities for collaboration coming out of those conversations. 

It was a productive week and a good reminder that housing is a part of every policy conversation, whether it's affordability, equity or the future of New York's economy.

[04:27] [Rent freezes have consequences the world over]

And while we're talking about rent freezes in Puerto Rico, it's worth looking at how they've played out around the world. 

Rent freezes have been tried in cities from Stockholm to Cairo, and the results are almost always the same: At first, prices stabilize; then supply starts to shrink as owners pull out of the market, unable to operate at a loss. The housing that remains begins to decay because maintaining buildings stops making financial sense. 

Over time, rent controlled cities split in two: Some people hang on to underpriced apartments, while everyone else is pushed out entirely. 

Cairo is a cautionary tale. Rent control there dates back to the 1950s, and in many cases, tenants still pay just a few cents a month. You heard that right: A few pennies a month. 

The results are visible everywhere. Once beautiful apartment buildings now stand among the most dilapidated in the world, owned by building owners who can't afford to fix them and occupied by tenants who have no reason to leave. Meanwhile, new construction has moved underground with more than half the city's housing now built informally or illegal. 

It's what economists call a market freeze. When policy meant to protect affordability ends up paralyzing the system itself. Rents stop sending signals about scarcity; investment dries up and new housing never arrives.

High rents aren't just a problem — they're a message. They tell us there isn't enough housing. The fix isn't to silence that signal, it is to respond to it by building more, building faster, and building smarter. 

If history has taught cities anything, it's this: Freeze rents, and sooner or later you freeze the market too.

[06:03] [NYAA joins the National Apartment Association]

Meanwhile, back here at home, there's some big news for NYAA: We are now officially part of the National Apartment Association. 

We are now their largest affiliate and join a network that represents more than 13 million apartments across the country. 

This is a big step forward, not just for our members, but for the housing industry in New York as a whole. By joining NAA's national network, we're expanding our reach and our resources, connecting the challenges we face here in New York to the larger national conversation. 

Property taxes, insurance costs, stalled development — these aren't just local issues, they're national ones. 

Now our members have a stronger voice in Washington and access to the same advocacy, education and support that's helping housing providers across the country. 

As our chairman, Aaron Sirulnick said, quote, “This is a big day for building owners in New York.”

He's right. This partnership gives us real allies in Washington and a seat at every table where housing policy gets made. 

[07:00] [Turkey Giveaway]

As we head into the holidays, I want to share something I'm especially proud to be part of: On Saturday, November 22nd, our NYAA team will be in upper Manhattan helping distribute 500 turkeys to families at the Inwood Food Pantry. 

I'll be there with our volunteers starting at 10:00 AM, handing out turkeys and spending time with neighbors ahead of Thanksgiving. 

If you'd like to join us, we'll be at 148 Post Avenue, right off of 207th Street. Everyone is welcome. 

[OUTRO]

That's a wrap for today's episode. 

The Q3 Housing New York Magazine is out now. This issue covers pension funds’ losses from rent-stabilized housing, the broken property tax system, how voters believe New York's housing policy is broken, which elected officials have the most stabilized units in New York and so much more… You can read it on our website at housingny.org. 

I'll be back with you in two weeks. In the meantime, follow us on Instagram, TikTok and X @housingny to stay up to date. 

And remember, good housing policy starts with good conversation.