NEW YORK (AP) – Andrew Cuomo is calling for enemies of New York City mayoral race Zoran Mamdani to push forward with a longshot proposal that would prohibit other middle-class renters from accessing many of the city’s homes, whilst vacating a stabilized apartment for his rent.
“I’m asking you to move in soon,” Cuomo wrote. Widely viewed social media posts This weekend, I cast Mamdani as a “very wealthy person” and occupying an apartment that could be used by otherwise homeless families.
The line of attacks has drawn tens of millions of views online and revived long-standing debate about people who have access to New York’s highly popular rent stabilization units.
It also showed the rhetorical length that Cuomo would be happy to go to when he placed an independent bid for the mayor against the democratic socialist Mamdani. I conveniently defeated him With Democrats’ primary on a platform centered around affordable prices and stable units rent freezes.
Mamdani, who earns $143,000 a year as a state legislator, says he will pay $2,300 a month for a one-bedroom apartment he shares with his wife in a Queens one-bedroom apartment.
New York City mayoral candidate Zoran Mamdani will speak at a press conference held in New York on Thursday, August 7, 2025 outside the Federal Building of Jacob K. Javitz. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)
By contrast, Cuomo, a millionaire who previously served as state governor, spends around $8,000 a month in a midtown Manhattan apartment that he moved from wealthy suburbs Westchester County last year.
In recent weeks, 67-year-old Cuomo has adopted a more aggressive social media presence, earning both praise and ock ha ha. Millennial Internet Language And a repetitive reference to his opponent’s “privilege.” Mamdani’s mother is a successful independent filmmaker, and his father is a professor at Columbia University.
On Monday, Cuomo went a step further and released a formal proposal called the “Zoran Law,” defined as someone who pays less than 30% of his income towards existing rent, excluding landowners from leasing vacant rent stabilization units to “wealthy tenants.”
The rent regulation program, which allows landlords to raise rent annually for around one million apartments each year, does not currently include income restrictions.
While households with stabilized average rents earn $60,000 a year, it is not uncommon for middle- or high-income New Yorkers to live in the unit.
However, Cuomo’s idea drew quick skepticism from some housing experts who said that CAP, by definition, means that all new tenants in the rent stabilization unit will give up a significant portion of their revenue.
“The idea that we should live in apartments that they can’t afford is something people set up for failure,” said Ellen Davidson, a housing lawyer for the Legal Aid Association. “That’s not a suggestion from someone who knows anything about the housing market or New York City.”
The New York Real Estate Board was a landlord group that was the primary and overwhelming supporter of Cuomo, and did not respond to an investigation into whether they supported the proposal. However, in the email, James Whelan, president of the group, said that “the benefits of rent control are not well targeted,” and that some form of average testing should be considered.
Under state law, hiking of rent stable units is determined by the appointed board, not the landlord.
“Rent stabilization has never been tested because it is not an affordable housing program. It is a program about neighborhood stability,” housing lawyer Davidson said, adding that the proposal is likely to present a “bureaucratic nightmare.”
In a text message, Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for Cuomo’s campaign, said “ultra-rich and privileged should not use programs aimed at supporting working New Yorkers,” adding that the revenue threshold criterion falls within the same system that manages the city’s other programs for low-incom housing.
Mamdani spokesman Dora Pekec said the proposal proved that Cuomo was desperate and not in contact.
“While Cuomo only values the happiness of Republican donors, Zoran believes that the job of city government is to ensure a life of dignity, rather than determining who is worth it,” she added.
