Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: It is a pleasure to be here in the BX with each and every one of you. I want to just first say, let's give it up for More Perfect University. Truly. Because it's great to be here at Hostos with advocates, students, organizers, tenant unions, all who have been on the front lines of leading the fight for the dignified housing that New Yorkers deserve.
I don't need to be the one to tell you that New York City is facing one of the most severe housing crises in the United States of America. That is something that each and every New Yorker feels on the first of the month. They feel it every time that they wake up and they ask themselves, are they going to have enough money to pay rent to keep living in the city that they call home? And it is also the leading driver of the affordability crisis. For working New Yorkers, housing is the heaviest financial burden that they carry, the largest source of stress in a life that frankly is already too stressful. Too many have looked at their rent bill and utility bill at the end of the month and wondered how they could possibly afford both. Too many have stayed up late at night crunching the numbers trying to find out any which way they could afford to stay in this city. And too many have spent winters shivering in buildings where the heat doesn't come on. Have felt their legs ache as they carry groceries up flight after flight of stairs because the elevator has been broken for months on end. Have spent their precious free time dealing with leaks, with mold, with disrepair.
This crisis did not arrive by accident. It has been decades in the making - it has been a direct result of the decisions that government has made. Decisions that gave landlords the incentive to spike rents and push New Yorkers out of their apartments. Decisions that left tenants with no one to turn to, nowhere else to go. Today, my friends, I'm so proud to be with you here to announce that we are making different set of decisions. Government, our government, will no longer treat the 70 percent of New Yorkers who do not own their homes as afterthoughts.
We lead from City Hall in no small part because a movement of tenants helped carry us here - because tenants believed government could govern differently. With our new housing plan, we are going to do exactly that. This plan is named "Block By Block" - and it is named that because that's how we're going to deliver change: block by block across the five boroughs of this city.
We will protect tenants from bad landlords - block by block.
We will support tenant unions - block by block.
We will deliver some of the strongest and most expansive tenant protections in the United States of America - block by block.
Since the day we took office, we have placed tenants at the heart of our agenda. We have relaunched the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants. We have held bad landlords accountable to the tune of $65 million dollars. We have held Rental Ripoff Hearings across each one of the five boroughs. And those Hearings, we held them to hear from New Yorkers so that their struggles would inform our policies. Because we heard from tenant after tenant about how their complaints have been ignored. So, we are now going to improve the process through which 311 investigates and follows up on complaints. We heard from tenants who told us how bad landlords are allowed to act with impunity in our city, so we are rolling out a new program called "Fix the City," allowing us to take legal action against those who are neglecting and mistreating their tenants. And I have to tell you this as we stand here together in the Bronx, that we heard specifically from Bronxites who have been tenants in this borough not for months, not for years, but for decades. And they've told us how for so long they've been excluded, for so long they felt as if they were secondary to anyone's concern. And so that is why we have decided to place a major focus on the Bronx specifically.
We know, however, this work to protect tenants will not solve our crisis if tenants can't afford places to live. So that is why as part of this same plan, Block by Block, we will deliver on the promise we made in our campaign to build 200,000 affordable, permanently rent-stabilized homes. And we will go beyond that and preserve and stabilize 200,000 more. These 400,000 affordable homes will be funded by a historic $22 billion capital investment over the next five years. These will be homes for the growing families in Brooklyn, for Hostos Community College students here in the Bronx. For CUNY students in Queens, for teachers in Staten Island, for construction workers in Manhattan. Because when I say this to you, I know it doesn't require translation simply because of the fact that students know more than most how difficult it is to find housing you can afford in New York City.
Whether you moved to be closer to campus, or you're living at home, you know what a 1.4 percent vacancy rate looks like - it means virtually no options to fit your needs. It means feeling as if you're being suffocated by a city that you want to be a part of. It means asking yourself how much longer you can keep living the way that you're living and whether you have to leave to be able to spread your wings. And we never want - we never you to come to the conclusion that you must leave this city in order to live your life. We want you to stay in this city so that you can build your life. And so alongside building 200,000 homes, preserving 200,00 additional homes, we're also going to pursue reforms so that New Yorkers can move into these homes faster. Because today, on average, when a building's construction is completed, it takes seven months for a tenant to move into that vacant unit. Seven months. And we are going to cut that time down because it is unacceptable in a moment such as this that the easiest thing to do in New York City, which is to move somebody into an affordable unit, should take you so long.
So, block by block, we are going to empower tenants and deliver the protections they need.
Block by block, we will build the affordable, dignified lives that New Yorkers deserve.
Block by block, we will prove that tackling this crisis is no longer one that government should debate, but instead one where government must deliver.
So let me hear it:
BLOCK BY BLOCK, BLOCK BY BLOCK, BLOCK BY BLOCK
Thank you.
Question: I am a senior in college, and I was born in the South Bronx. I unfortunately had to move when I was younger due to rising rent costs. But since then, I became a tenant organizer. And my question is about tenant unions that were mentioned previously. You know, regarding the new housing agenda and enforcement processes writ large, how are you going to be actually working with those tenant unions? That was mentioned before, but would you like to walk through that?
Mayor Mamdani: Thank you so much for that question. Just like in the workplace, the strongest way to organize for your rights is to be a part of a union. And tenant unions are a critical part of how we can ensure that tenants are actually enjoying the rights that they deserve. And so, we are taking a number of steps in this plan, Block by Block, to ensure that city government is supporting those tenant unions. Now, one specific way that we're doing so is that. When a tenant union reaches majority membership of any building, they coalesce around one issue. City government is going to coordinate enforcement days where we have multiple agencies coming together to do a roof-to-basement inspection of the entire building. This is critical because so often tenant unions are left in the dark as to what the conditions actually are. They're hoping maybe one agency will show up, and then they know they have to wait months for the next agency. We want to finally bring these efforts and actions together so that we can actually move forward on addressing these kinds of concerns. Cea, I don't know if you'd have anything -
Cea Weaver, Executive Director, Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants: I think it's just so critical that if you are a tenant to talk to your neighbors and get organized yourselves. You know that there's power in numbers, and the best way for the city and for the owners of your building to know that we need to come and make repairs - that we need to make sure that conditions are addressed - is for tenants to get organized. Tenant organizations are the networks of solidarity that create the neighborly ties that bond us all together. And so, making sure that you know your neighbors is about not just getting repairs but it's also about making sure that maybe you - maybe somebody can let you in if you get locked out. It's really what is bringing all of New Yorkers together and I really encourage you to get organized, to talk to your neighbors and to form a tenant union where you live.
Question: I'm a student, a part of the Sunrise Movement's New York City chapter, and I'm wondering, how can young people be more engaged with your administration? And how can we help you fulfill this agenda?
Mayor Mamdani: Thank you so much. I think what I really appreciate about your question is that it understands the fact that we have to win this agenda. We have to work every day to deliver this agenda. We don't want this agenda to be words on a page - we want it to be a glimpse of the future that we're going to deliver. And the way that we do that is use every single tool at our disposal. So, my ask to everyone here, if you're looking to be involved with our administration, with these efforts, with the work behind Block by Block, go to nyc.gov/organize.
Now, this is part of an agenda that we have where we want to get more New Yorkers involved and engaged in the work of government. We want their struggles to inform government policies. So, we have something called the Office of Mass Engagement, OME, which is looking to bring city government out into New York City. One of their focuses right now is on the rent guidelines board. Can you raise your hand if you've heard of the Rent Guidelines Board? Lots of people here have. But there are a few people here who may not have. Now we have a city of 8.5 million people. A little more than 2 million New Yorkers live in what is called rent-stabilized housing. This is housing where your rent increases or stays the same depending on a decision by the Rent Guidelines Board. So, sometimes your rent goes up 3%, 5%, sometimes it's been frozen. Right now, the Rent Guidelines Board is debating what to do on the rent. And so what the Office of Mass Engagement is doing right now is knocking on people's doors who are rent stabilized, whether they're tenants or landlords or anywhere in between, to let them know these hearings are happening, these decisions will impact you, you should go to the hearing and tell them what that decision would mean in your life. We're not telling people how to testify. We're telling people that they should testify. Because last year, [for] a decision that impacted more than 2 million people, there were fewer than 1,000 people who testified. Most people don't even know how their rent is set, who determines it. We want them to know the ins and outs of the policies that actually affect their lives.
Question: I am proud to stand here on behalf of my students. They're part of the National Clean Water Collective Youth Council. Unfortunately, they couldn't be here. But our scholars are leading the Poison to Prison Pipeline Project, which raises awareness about lead exposure and advocates for lead service line replacement, water testing, and water filtration solutions to help protect New Yorkers. The project is called the Poison the Prison Pipeline, because research shows that childhood lead exposure is linked to long-term impacts on health, behavior, educational outcomes, and involvement with the criminal justice system. My question is about housing, dignity and rental rip-offs. New Yorkers are paying some of the highest rents in the country, yet a 2023 No Excuses report found that approximately 21% - which is one of five New Yorkers - may be receiving water through lead service lines, and 41% New York City water service lines are lead or potentially lead service line. When tenants are paying premium rates or rents, shouldn't safe drinking water be considered a basic standard of decent housing. And what steps would you take to ensure that renters are not paying increasingly high housing costs while still facing potential lead exposure in the water coming into their homes? And then lastly, our students are working on this, and they would love the opportunity to meet with you to be able to share their ideas. They've been working on it for more than a year, and they've gathered real data to support it. Thank you.
Mayor Mamdani: First, please give your students my best and thank them for all of their work. I am now six months into this position, and I have learned that I can never schedule something myself. But I will pass that on to the scheduling team, and I will encourage you to share your information with them. What I will say is that I absolutely agree that the crisis in New York City is not just the cost of housing but also the condition of housing.
When we announced Block by Block on Tuesday, a member of the press asked a question about a specific landlord who had gone to jail for a violation of the housing code. And I asked, was that not the same landlord who had another building on the Upper West Side where they found an active beehive in the building? And it was. And that speaks to the level of impunity that many landlords are operating with. And what I've been clear about is that my dream is not to hold every bad landlord accountable - my dream is that we don't have to. My dream is that every landlord is responsive to their tenants, and that every landowner is following housing code. And I know that there are many landlords who are like them. The issue, however, is that there are a number of bad landlords who have been able to operate with impunity - no consequence for their actions. And part of what this housing plan puts forward is specifically funding to ensure that we can hold these kinds of landlords accountable. And especially the top-10 worst landlords of New York City - that we could actually start to explore all of the tools we need to transfer ownership of those properties to those who will actually safely steward them, whether they're a nonprofit, a community land trust, or the tenants themselves. That is how we are looking at this, because, frankly, this is the law. And for too long, housing code has been treated like a suggestion, not a requirement. And when it comes to lead, you know, I was actually lucky enough to have the experience of going with an HPD inspector into a building to test for lead. And it showed me in that moment something that we all know but too often lose sight of, which is the level of expertise required to make sure that you are keeping every unit as it should be from the city's perspective - it requires inspectors who are being invested in. And that's part of what this plan has done. It has led us to put in additional millions of dollars to hire more of these enforcement agents across our agencies to ensure that we can actually deliver on what your students have been studying. Thank you so much.
Question: Thank you. Shout out to all the Bronx Community College Hostos. You already know, I'm a graduate from Hostos. How you doing, Mayor? I'm actually an advocate, a lead advocate at CUNY Cares. What we do is we service the students in the three Bronx schools - Hostos, Lehman and Bronx Community College - and we show them and let them know where resources are available to them in the college and in the communities we live in. So, what I want to know from you, Mayor, is there any policies or any of this Block by Block that's specifically for students or that helps students, you know, from the Bronx or from these areas that are low income?
Mayor Mamdani: Can we give her a round of applause? Truly, thank you for your work, and I say that because there are a lot of programs and services in New York City, and there are a lot of people who have no idea that they exist, and we need people like you who are telling New Yorkers what they can actually have at their fingertips. Because too often, we've just rested on our laurels. We've said, if a program exists, that's enough. We have to tell people about the program, and thank you for doing that, because especially for our students, it is overwhelming to enter into adulthood. And to have to deal with every single aspect of that challenge and to finally have someone who can just hold their hand and guide them to some of the things that will make it easier, I can tell you there are so many New Yorkers who wish that they had you many years ago. So, thank you for your work.
