Mamdani Drops Latest Spending Program for ‘Affordable Homes’
New York City Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a new “Block by Block” affordable housing plan aimed at addressing the city’s housing crisis. The initiative proposes investing $22 billion over the next five years to build 200,000 affordable homes and preserve another 200,000, backed by targets described as among the most enterprising in the city’s modern history.
Mamdani also said he would pursue a “Construction Justice Act” to require city-financed housing projects to meet a $40 minimum wage and benefits benchmark.The plan further includes a tougher approach toward landlords-calling for aggressive legal action against chronically neglected buildings and shifting ownership of such properties to community control.
Reactions were mixed: Steve Fulop of Partnership for New York city criticized the plan, warning that heavy regulation could deter developers and investment. Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis argued the city already struggles to maintain existing housing,citing issues in public housing and opposing what she characterized as burdensome regulations on homeowners and landlords.
New York City Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani released a new affordable housing plan, vowing to spend $22 billion on his latest social program.
The “Block by Block” initiative released on Tuesday was described by Mamdani’s office as “a sweeping blueprint to tackle New York City’s deepening housing crisis with the urgency and scale the moment demands.”
It would fund the construction of 200,000 “affordable homes” alongside the preservation of 200,000 others, relying on “a historic $22 billion capital investment in housing over the next five years.”
Mamdani also wants to implement a “Construction Justice Act” to guarantee a $40 minimum wage and benefit benchmark for city-financed housing projects.
Socialist mayor Mamdani just put NYC landlords on notice as he calls for taking “aggressive legal action” against landlords and transferring ownership of chronically neglected buildings to “the community.”
His pitch: crack down on bad owners and remake who controls housing in… pic.twitter.com/wNHxZIgrln
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 26, 2026
“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 the release.
“This plan meets the housing crisis with the urgency it demands. We are setting the most ambitious housing production and preservation targets in the city’s modern history — and backing them up with investments to match — while also protecting tenants and homeowners, investing in public housing and ensuring the workers building that housing have good-paying, safe jobs.”
Partnership for New York City President Steve Fulop reacted negatively toward the plan, which comes as the latest of several social programs introduced by Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, during his five months in office.
“Developers, the private investors, the people with capital, that they’re better off in other cities than the ones with huge amounts of regulation. And you’ve seen it. You’ve seen that all across the country,” Fulop said in an interview with Fox Business.
“New York City has a big housing shortage. It has a big opportunity to grow as well. But you got to be careful with regulation and government overreach,” he continued.
We don’t need to choose between protecting tenants and building more housing. Between fighting for NYCHA residents and homeowners. Between leading with the values that got us here and addressing the housing crisis.
Block by block, we can do it all. pic.twitter.com/uuhImxLN1j
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) May 28, 2026
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican from New York, meanwhile told Fox Business that New York City has struggled to maintain its existing housing inventory.
“New York City is actually the biggest slumlord in the city of New York,” she said.
“We have 350,000 people living in New York City housing authority projects… When you look at these facilities, there’s mold… leaks… rodents… roaches, there are all sorts of problems, not to mention real serious dangerous crime issues as well,” the lawmaker added.
“If he wants to encourage investment, he has to stop with these crazy regulations that make it impossible to be a homeowner or landlord or a property manager in this city.”
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