Zohran Mamdani has big housing plans. Here’s what stands in the way

New York City frontrunner for mayor Zohran Mamdani has an ambitious agenda to tackle the city’s housing crisis. But the spiraling costs to develop affordable housing, President Donald Trump’s efforts to gut federal housing aid and other obstacles may derail his goals.

New York City frontrunner for mayor Zohran Mamdani has an ambitious agenda to tackle the city’s housing crisis. But the spiraling costs to develop affordable housing, President Donald Trump’s efforts to gut federal housing aid and other obstacles may derail his goals. New York City is in the grips of its worst housing shortage in more than 50 years. Only 1.4% of apartment rentals are available, and the typical New York City household pays more than half of its $70,000 income on rent. The city’s leaders for decades have promised new affordable housing. Mamdani, who won New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, has pledged to freeze rents on rent-stabilized units if elected; build 200,000 permanently affordable apartments over the next decade; and double the amount of money the city spends to preserve public housing. Mamdani’s campaign did not respond to CNN’s request for more details on his plans. “We need significantly more affordable housing,” the campaign says on its website. “Housing that does get built is often out of reach for working families who need it the most.” But affordable housing development is devilishly complicated and requires deep government subsidies to make units affordable to low-income tenants. And many affordable housing owners and the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) are already behind on their bills. “The rubber is going to meet the road” on Mamdani’s housing policies, said Howard Slatkin, the executive director of the Citizens Housing & Planning Council, a non-profit research organization. “It’s hard to talk about these plans without talking about the simmering distress within New York City’s affordable housing.”