Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: It is a privilege to be here today at the New York City Housing Court alongside partners in government, City Hall leaders, and the dedicated legal services providers, tenants and advocates who have long devoted themselves to the fight for justice. I want to acknowledge specifically we have our State Senator Julia Salazar, who is here with us. We have our deputy mayor for Housing and Planning, Leila Bozorg; our HPD commissioner, Dina Levy; our DOB commissioner, Ahmed Tigani; our director, Cea Weaver, of the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants. We also have Honorable Jack Stoller, a New York City Housing Court supervising judge. We also have Adriene Holder, the chief attorney of the Civil Practice of the Legal Aid Society. And once again, I do want to just give a special acknowledgment to all of the legal service providers and the tenant organizations that are here, seated in the audience and also here standing behind us. Now - well, yes, I think there was one clap there. You can clap for them.
Every day, New Yorkers walk through the doors of this courthouse, some of whom are living in explicitly dangerous conditions and cannot afford to do so for a day longer. Older New Yorkers who have to walk down 12 flights of stairs because the elevator in their apartment building has sat out of service for months. Parents who fear for their children's health because there is lead paint in the living room, black mold in the bathroom and cockroaches crawling in through the floorboards. Families who have been forced into temporary living situations because their home has been damaged by a fire or floodwaters and their landlord refuses to make the necessary repairs. And yet, because of the volume of cases in New York City Housing Court, people living in the worst conditions regularly wait weeks - if not months - for a case to be heard, for a decision to come, for critical repairs to be completed, for their situation to improve.
Today, we take a critical step toward ending that. I am proud to announce that the Unified Court System will now fast-track emergency housing court cases where the health, safety and well-being of New Yorkers is at risk. This is the fulfillment of a commitment made in our recently released Rental Ripoff report, and it is a core part of our Fix the City campaign. I'm grateful for the partnership and leadership of the Honorary Judge Ally, who has issued a memorandum to all Housing Court judges across the city that will expedite emergency cases immediately.
This fast track will accelerate the cases that are both the most egregious and the most complex. Cases where at least one-third of units in a building are subject to an open vacate order, where families have been forced from their homes. Cases where at least one-third of the units have an open and immediately hazardous violation for essential services, like a lack of heat, hot water, electricity or gas. Cases where elevators in a building are out of service and documented as such by an open DOB Class 1 violation issued within the past year. And 7A cases where conditions have gotten so bad that the city or tenants themselves asked the court to appoint new management for a building due to persistent and egregious negligence.
In these cases, judges will now require parties to return to court within five days after service is completed. This is the kind of change tenants have long called for, and the kind of change that tenants deserve. City Hall is fighting for the nearly 70 percent of New Yorkers who do not own their homes. On our first day in office, we relaunched the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants and appointed Cea Weaver to lead it; we have held Rental Ripoff Hearings across the five boroughs and released New York City's first-ever Rental Ripoff report; and we are revamping the city's code enforcement system, including interagency enforcement days with HPD, DOB and many more. Taken together, each of these reforms reflect our all-encompassing approach to solving the housing crisis, including a historic $22 billion investment in improving public housing, building new affordable housing and preserving the affordable homes we already have.
Mayor Fiorello La Guardia once wrote that the basic function of government was to deliver justice on the broadest scale. "Justice," he said, "gives everyone some chance for the beauty and better things of life." Having a home with heat and hot water, a home free of pests and mold, a home you can live in, raise a family in - that is justice on the broad scale, one that makes better things possible in the life of every New Yorker. And that is exactly what we are here to deliver today. Thank you. And now I will pass it over to our emcee for this morning, Commissioner Levy.
Dina Levy, Commissioner, Housing Preservation and Development: Thank you so much, mayor. So, early in my time at HPD, I met with a small group of legal advocates and asked what they saw as the biggest barrier to holding the city's worst landlords accountable. The answer was pretty simple: they said it was time. In the most neglected buildings, those with vacate orders, where tenants are forced to double up with family members or move into shelter; or 20-story buildings that don't have working elevators, where tenants literally become hostages in their own home. Months can turn into years, and too often, residents give up on realizing the housing justice that they are entitled to.
Thanks to the directive issued by the Office of Court Administration, those days are over. This initiative creates a critical path to delivering on our promise to fix the city. By giving HPD and legal service providers a clear and limited timeline, we will move the most extreme enforcement cases through the New York City court system with the expediency and the urgency that they deserve. I want to extend sincere thanks to the leadership at the Office of Court Administration, including Chief Administrative Judge Ally; Chief Clerk Faye; Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Silvera; Judge Stoller and Assistant Deputy Counsel Kempner for their collaboration.
And of course, to my colleague, Commissioner Ahmed Tigani at the New York City Department of Buildings and Director Cea Weaver at the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants for their partnership in pushing forward this extremely important initiative. And now it is my pleasure to welcome another housing champion, the housing chair for the New York State Assembly, Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal.
Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal: Thank you so much. This announcement is a dream come true and I thank everyone involved. You know, you want to make my office have less work, and here we are, because we're not going to have to keep pounding on doors, we're not going to have to keep writing angry letters, because the city is now committed to doing the work that is needed to protect tenants in neglected buildings. Buildings where tenants are harassed by lack of maintenance and response to dangerous conditions. And so, I applaud everyone involved with this. I thank the mayor; I thank commissioners; I thank everyone involved, because this will truly mean a safer and better life for tens of thousands of tenants in New York City. Thank you.
Commissioner Levy: Thank you so much, assemblywoman. So, I am now delighted to introduce a longtime friend, a fierce advocate for tenants - and I want to make sure I get it right - the chief attorney of the Civil Practice at The Legal Aid Society, Adriene Holder.
Adriene Holder, Chief Attorney, Civil Practice at The Legal Aid Society: What a glorious morning - I just can't tell you. This is wonderful to be here with the mayor, to be with Commissioner Dina Levy, to be here with Cea Weaver, HPD, OCA, Jack Stoller, of course. We really appreciate everyone recognizing the urgency of this issue and taking action to help New Yorkers get home. At the Legal Aid Society, we see firsthand every day what happens when a family is forced from their home because of dangerous conditions.
A vacate order is supposed to be a temporary measure to protect people from harm; but for too many tenants, temporary displacement can stretch into months or even years. And those delays have real consequences. Children have a hard time traveling to their schools; parents struggle with trying to maintain or get to work; seniors and people living with disabilities oftentimes lose their supports; and families oftentimes are separated from their property, their clothes, their friends, their neighbors, their houses of worship, their communities that they call home, their stability.
For years, The Legal Aid Society has raised concerns about delays in housing court proceedings involving vacate orders and other emergency conditions. We have seen how procedural delays can prevent tenants from getting the repairs they need and leave families stuck in temporary housing through no fault of their own. That's why this new policy matters. By creating a faster pathway for those cases, the city and the courts are recognizing something fundamental: when a New Yorker is displaced because their home is unsafe, getting that home into that home again is of the utmost priority. Temporary relocation should not mean permanent displacement.
We're proud to have worked with HPD and to help develop this policy, and we appreciate HPD's commitment to addressing a problem that has caused tremendous hardship for all New Yorkers. This reform is about more than moving cases through the court system more efficiently. It is about helping families regain something that is incredibly difficult to replace, and that's stability. Our goal should always be simple: when a New Yorker is forced out of their home for their own safety, they should be able to get back into their home as quickly as possible.
And so, we look forward to continuing to work with the city, the courts and our partners - thank you to so many of our partners - to make sure that this policy delivers on that promise and that no tenant is left behind because of unnecessary procedural delays. Again, no temporary vacate order, or relocation should mean permanent displacement. Thank you so much.
Commissioner Levy: Thank you so much, Adriene, and to everybody and all the legal service providers. So finally, I would like to welcome someone who got her start as a tenant organizer fighting for exactly these issues. Please welcome State Senator Julia Salazar.
State Senator Julia Salazar: Thank you, commissioner. Every single day in my district in Brooklyn and Queens, we hear from constituents, neighbors, about the horrible conditions that many of them and their families are facing, and it's unjust. They shouldn't - whether they are just beginning to face these struggles or they have had to face this for years due to the failures of this system, it's unjust. And I applaud the mayor and the Office of Court Administration for recognizing that it doesn't need to be this way. And not only that - but taking action today to change it.
It is personal for me, in addition to representing a district that's more than 83 percent renters, it's a story that I lived myself several years ago when I lived uptown in a building with atrocious conditions, so much so that it led my neighbors and I to pursue justice in Housing Court. I know this intimately, but this really is something that so many of our neighbors, so many New Yorkers and families continue to live every single day.
So, I thank the mayor, OCA and partners in government, everyone who is coming together, not only to take this action today, but to the practitioners who will make sure that this is implemented and that we see change and justice for tenants in Housing Court in New York City. Thank you.
Question: Do you have a sense of the volume of cases that will be eligible for this path given past caseloads, and to what extent is this change necessary for the 7A program in Fix the City? Like, was the 7A program as part of the Fix the City initiative possible without this change? Like, to what extent does the pace of that rely on this change?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, it is hard to give an exact sense of how many New Yorkers will be impacted. However, we do know that these types of cases, the ones that we've listed earlier, are exactly the ones that tend to be the most complicated to resolve. And the extended timeline that they have taken historically, as well as the backlog that it creates, it not only means consequences for those New Yorkers who are bringing these cases to this court but also ramifications that extend beyond that for the entire Housing Court system. I'm going to pass it over to our deputy mayor for Housing and Planning to speak to a little additional detail on 7A. Oh, actually, we'll have Commissioner Dina Levy come up.
Commissioner Levy: Yeah, so on the 7A question, obviously this is a tool that HPD has had for many years, but one of the challenges, particularly in these very difficult cases, is that the time it takes to remove a really seriously delinquent owner in order to get in responsible management means that the buildings continue to deteriorate, getting more and more expensive. Ultimately, the city needs to come in and repair them, so this will be a huge tool that we will layer with other tools to really pursue those landlords who are willfully negligent in managing their buildings.
Question: I have a question about one of the types of legal actions here. The HP action, which is trying to compel landlords to do repairs, is also a tool that's used by some NYCHA residents to compel repairs. And they're sometimes also forced to relocate because of repair issues.
I'm wondering if this pathway will also be open to NYCHA residents to use to accelerate those types of court cases. And if so, is this initiative about not only keeping private landlords accountable, but also forcing the city's housing agency to respond to what is a large backlog of repair needs?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, I think just to first lay out very clearly that one of the critical parts of our housing agenda is delivering for public housing residents who have for far too long been overlooked and left behind by government policy. And one of the key ways that we've sought to do that is through the allocation of a multibillion-dollar housing plan specifically for public housing and then also looking for additional ways that we can make targeted investments beyond that. One of the early investments we made was in heat pumps in the Rockaways to transform a specific NYCHA housing development. I'll pass it over to our deputy mayor to add some additional details there.
Deputy Mayor Leila Bozorg, Housing and Planning: So, I think as we evaluate the types of HP actions that this would apply to, NYCHA will be included in that.
Question: Quick follow-up question about 7A. By some estimates, there are only about two dozen active administratorships right now. If things speed up and, you know, things go as seemingly the plan is to have more administratorships and more transfers of management happen under 7A, are there already organizations, for-profit [or] nonprofit, lined up to take on that role? Is there a backlog or a vetting process that's already in the process?
Commissioner Levy: So, yeah, it is, in fact, right. We have some 7A administrators right now who are serving, but we also have a process by which we can take in new administrators, so we are not limited to a specific list, and we very intentionally keep that open on a rolling basis so that as we need more, we can meet the demand by prequalifying responsible management companies and receivers who can step in.
Question: And just one more question. There's a bill in the State Senate that would introduce another Housing Court subpart for, I believe, buildings with sub-10-unit buildings and affordable housing buildings for eviction cases specifically. What's your stance on that bill? And does anything that you're announcing today kind of feed into that push for more efficiency in that specific process?
Mayor Mamdani: I think we're going to get back to you on that bill. Do you have the bill number?
Question: I will get it for you.
Mayor Mamdani: Okay. Thank you.
Question: I'm wondering if you could talk about how you differentiate a truly negligent landlord from one who, you know, says they simply can't afford to replace the boiler or replace elevators because costs are outpacing revenue.
Mayor Mamdani: What we are talking about today are some of the most severe cases. We're talking about cases where a third of the building is facing some kind of a serious violation [and] cases where we have elevators broken down. And when it comes to the law, everyone has to follow it. And for far too long, that has somehow not been understood when it comes to housing in our city. If a landlord is not able to follow the law, then they should not be a landlord of that property.
And what we are talking about are things that have incredible consequences for New Yorkers. At one of the Rental Ripoff Hearings, I sat across from a tenant who showed me a video of one of her neighbors having to carry her disabled child up the stairs because that elevator was broken.
We're talking about seniors who live on the 10th floor of a building. How are they supposed to get up there or get down from there? And these are things that do not exist in isolation. And what I mean by that is every so often, I'm standing in front of the press corps and our cameras, and I'm talking about a heat emergency. I'm talking about the cold weather that's coming. And we are trying to reach New Yorkers wherever they are. These are the kinds of things that also intensify the isolation of those New Yorkers. We have to make sure that these laws are actually being followed.
Question: I wanted to ask about enforcement, you know, what happens when these cases are not back in court after five days, and what sort of conversations have you had with OCA about how to give guidance to their judges on these new rules?
Mayor Mamdani: I first just want to thank and acknowledge OCA for all of the work that made today possible. And I think it's worthy of a round of applause. We know that this is the right thing to do. There is still a lot of work to actually follow through on it. And that is what OCA and so many others in this room are making possible. I'll pass it over to a member of my admin to speak additionally on that question.
Commissioner Levy: Yeah, so just to be very clear, when we first sort of brought this idea forward, recognizing that we had cases like you see on the easels here that have been delinquent for months and months and months, and talking to all of the Legal Aid attorneys and also to the attorneys within HPD who litigate these types of cases, it was clear that we needed sort of to speed this up in order to not extenuate how long tenants are suffering.
Again, to the earlier question, we give a notice of violation. Our door is open. If landlords want to get compliant, they certainly have an avenue to do that in partnership with HPD. So, this is really about those landlords who have been warned, have been noticed, have been issued violations, and just continually refuse to comply with the law.
We are very grateful that the Office of Court Administration acknowledges how serious an issue this is and has now established a very clear timeline so that tenants will not have to wait for justice indefinitely.
Mayor Mamdani: Thank you, and just before we move over, I just want to introduce State Senator Kavanagh to share some words on this.
State Senator Brian Kavanagh: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just a very brief - sorry I'm late; I had a subway mishap. But I really did want to be here because, you know, we've spent a great deal of time and energy trying to address the housing crisis of this city, in the state, across the board, using all the tools available. We have shored up our rent laws and our laws that protect tenants. We've added good-cause eviction tools. We have invested enormous amounts of capital both to create new housing and to stabilize and secure the housing that we have.
We added changes to our regulatory system that the city continues to work on to remove obstacles to producing new housing [and] to converting commercial buildings to residential housing. And just this year, we added some protections, working with the Manhattan district attorney to go after landlords who deserve criminal prosecution for their harassment of tenants.
But there's been one stubborn problem that has resisted change and reform for a long time, and that is a situation that all of us in elected office hear about all the time. It's a building, a multifamily building, where the property owner is unable or unwilling to maintain the building in a way that keeps it habitable, that keeps it livable and that keeps a decent place for people to live.
So that means tenants then spend a long time living in terrible conditions, often displaced from their homes for long periods. The solution is very much making sure we can adjudicate these cases promptly and get redress for the tenants and get people back into their homes.
So, I wanted to be here to thank the mayor and his all-star team, his all-star housing team and Judge Ally and Sloan and all the people at OCA for coming together and addressing this.
This is a rare collaboration where the city and the courts really roll up their sleeves and try to sort out a difficult problem. So, this is great news. I look forward to seeing the fruits of all of this work. Thank you.
Question: Okay, question about the RSS. The Indian right-wing paramilitary organization is planning to have a rally this weekend at Madison Square Garden, and there are protests against this rally, including one right now, I think, at City Hall. Shahana Hanif, Brad Lander and Lincoln Restler have all called for it to be canceled. Opponents to the rally cite the RSS' treatment of religious minorities in India. That's something you've spoken out about. So just wanna get your position on that. And then I also have a question about open primaries.
Mayor Mamdani: You can give me that one, too.
Question: Well, just during your campaign, I feel like the whole ethos was about expanding the electorate. And you made that video that went viral and got so much attention about reaching out to Trump voters before too many people were taking your candidacy seriously. And then you did make inroads and expand it, getting more people involved, getting more people registered to vote.
So, I just wanted to press you a little bit on how that squares now with opposing open primaries, which would allow these - I think it's more than a million unaffiliated voters - to participate in that part of the process.
Mayor Mamdani: I think that our campaign showed that the current system is not incongruent with getting more people to participate. And in fact, it comes out to the way in which you build your campaign, the way you reach out to people and also if you are encouraging more and more people to register, to change their location of registration to where they actually live, and also that they actually have a home in whatever political coalition that you're building.And at the end of the election calendar, I think we received more than a million votes, which was the first mayoral campaign to receive that, I think, since the '60s it may have been.
Question: Since Lindsay, I think.
Mayor Mamdani: Since Lindsay. And so what that showed to me is that it is possible to bring more New Yorkers in. It's not a question of the rules that you set up. It's a question also of how you want to engage with them. So that's how I navigate that question.
And then, you know, I also stand here as the first Indian American mayor in our city's history, and my mother's family is all still in India. And the vision of India that I was taught by my family and the one that I grew up being very familiar with was of a pluralistic society, of a secular republic that believed in the belonging of each and every person who was from India.
And it has been incredibly troubling to see the rise of a movement that is predicated on an exclusionary vision of any country, frankly. And so it is one that I find myself in deep opposition to, not only as an Indian American, but also as the mayor of a city that believes deeply in the belonging of each and every person, no matter their color, their creed, their religion, their faith, wherever they're from.
Question: Should the rally be canceled, though, at MSG this weekend?
Mayor Mamdani: I don't support the rally, but I don't know if the city has any jurisdiction on canceling a private event.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: I wanted to ask if you are aware of any changes to the city, any changes to city policy that have resulted from the federal changes to work visas for international job applicants, H-1B in particular. The Trump administration last year, so before you took office, obviously implemented a $100,000 fee for employers for each visa they've sponsored. That's affected workforces all around the country, hospitals, nonprofits. Do you know whether it's affected City government at all?
Mayor Mamdani: Not off the top of my head, but we will get back to you on that question.
Question: On a related question, actually, you know, now that a couple of weeks have passed, do you have the tally of how many TPS recipients the city had to part ways with, and can you tell us what particular agencies were most impacted?
Mayor Mamdani: We can get back to you on the exact number. What I can tell you is that these were city workers across a number of different agencies, workers who performed vital service to the city. And it's just one part of why I have spoken with the president directly about the importance of extending TPS for Haitian Americans, for Syrian Americans, for so many who have now been deprived of that status.
We are also talking about a status that was created with the intention of shielding sets of people from having to return to home countries that were deemed to be unstable. And when you look at the conditions in Haiti today, the idea that we would send Haitian Americans back in this moment, to me, is a betrayal of what TPS actually stands for. And we continue to call on the federal government to change that decision.
Question: I wanted to follow up on Holly's question. Just wondering, do you see unaffiliated voters as potential supporters, or are they a political threat? And then I have a second question.
Mayor Mamdani: I see anyone who is registered to vote as a potential supporter, and frankly, anyone who lives in our city. And as the mayor, my job is to respond to the needs of everyone, no matter how they feel about me or whether they voted for me or whether they voted at all.
And when I'm running for office, I'm looking to speak to everyone. We're speaking about open primaries, but I'm also someone who ran through a competitive general. And that is the moment in which you speak to anyone regardless of their registration.
And, you know, earlier we were talking - I think Holly had mentioned outreach to Trump voters. I think by the end of the election, one in 10 voters who voted for Trump in New York City voted for our campaign.
And so, to me, it's not about classifying someone as whether they are with you or against you. It is about asking them, what is it that you're looking for from city government? What are the struggles you're facing in your life, and what are the ways in which we can actually help you with that?
Question: And then my second question, Julie Menin, I believe yesterday was asking the city's Transportation Department to restart these talks around age verification for Citi Bike riders. I know your administration has intervened earlier this year in blocking, I think, biometric screening. So I'm just wondering where you stand. Do you think there should be stronger age verification for Citi Bikes?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, the prior administration had reached out to Lyft in support of this as a measure, and when we came into office, we were informed of a number of the risks that would come with the implementation of this, risks that include the handling of data of minors in New York City and also questions as to the efficacy of this kind of data in asserting what the actual intent is of this program, whether it's age, what have you.
And so I continue to have that skepticism after having been informed about those critiques of this kind of a program. And I think what we've seen in the last few weeks, the last few months, is that when it comes to a lack of safety with e-bikes, a lot of it is actually derived from the purchasing and sale of e-bikes that are clearly in violation of New York City law.
And so one of the things that we have done is send out these cease-and-desist letters that have now taken effect to the more than 40 retailers who are found to still be selling e-bikes and e-scooters that are clearly operating at speeds that are not legal in the city.
Question: Two very separate questions for you.First, I wonder, you probably want to talk about this new initiative with the U.S. Open and making tickets more affordable and available to New Yorkers. And then I have a separate question.
Mayor Mamdani: Well, yes, we're very excited that today we announced that we have secured 1,000 discounted tickets for New Yorkers to be sold at $100 a ticket. They will go on sale tomorrow at 10 a.m.And any New Yorker who lives in our city, all they will be required to do is provide their ZIP code. They can buy a ticket for themselves and one other lucky person. It'll be first come, first serve, pun intended.
And we're excited about this because part of the beauty of living in our city is also the exposure to some of the greatest sporting events across the world. And the U.S. Open is one that so many New Yorkers have fond memories of, and yet what we've seen is, like with many sporting events, the cost has continued to increase, and many New Yorkers feel as if they don't have a chance at being a part of something like this.
So just like we secured 1,000 tickets for the World Cup at a discounted price, we've done the same with the U.S. Open, and our mission is: how can we bring as many New Yorkers as possible to be a part of such a wonderful event?
Question: My second question was about Congressman Hakeem Jeffries. You spoke about him yesterday. You said you continue to support him for speaker. But I wonder if you have thoughts on the fact that he met with Jared Kushner in recent weeks. I wonder if you have thoughts on that strategy and if you've spoken to him at all about how Democrats should be strategizing ahead of a potential majority after the midterms.
Mayor Mamdani: I don't have many thoughts on that. What I would say is that I continue to be in regular communication with Congressman Jeffries. And it's a communication that is always built on: how can we deliver for this city? How can we deliver for New Yorkers? It's something that both of us care very deeply about.
And when it comes to what life looks like after the midterms, one, I hope that we would be celebrating taking back the House. And two, I would always hope that, at that point, we are articulating very clearly what we are standing for.
We know for quite some time that we are standing up to a federal administration that is taking cruel and punitive action against the ability of many working-class Americans to afford their day-to-day life. But what is our agenda that we're fighting for? And that is something that we are looking to make clear here in New York City. It's an agenda for those who have been left behind. It's an agenda for those who work all day and still don't have enough money in their pocket to pay for their groceries.
And I'm excited at seeing the number of Democrats who've been elected in primaries, whether it's Claire Valdez, Darializa Avila Chevalier, Brad Lander, others, and now that we could bring that, hopefully, into a majority.
Question: So should co-chair Gustavo Gordillo step down after lying to The New York Times, lying about his job to get a full-time gig with DSA and failing to support union workers?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, the D in DSA stands for Democratic, and I leave it to the organization in its own voting of who it is electing as its leaders.And I think what we've seen with Gustavo and what we're seeing to any others who are in the fight for a fairer, more affordable New York is that their focus is on making this a city that everyone can belong to, and I welcome anyone who's committed to that.
