New York City mayoral candidates, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, sparred over rent-stabilized apartments. (Getty Images)
Chief among Mamdani's now-infamous progressive policy proposals is his commitment to freezing rents.
"As Mayor, Zohran will immediately freeze the rent for all stabilized tenants, and use every available resource to build the housing New Yorkers need and bring down the rent," according to Mamdani's campaign website.
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Mamdani has accused incumbent Mayor Eric Adams of appointing Rent Guidelines Board members to raise rents on stabilized apartments. While landlords and advocates argue the freeze would be illegal, Mamdani can accomplish this goal by appointing members to the board who wouldn't vote to increase the rent.
Zohran Mamdani speaks to supporters during an election night gathering at The Greats of Craft LIC on June 24, 2025. (Getty Images/Michael M. Santiago)
"No matter which way you cut it: Zohran Mamdani is a rich person. You are actually very rich. Yet you and your wife pay $2,300 a month, as you have bragged, for a nice apartment in Astoria. That should be housing for someone who needs it. We are in the middle of a historic affordability crisis. Millions of low income New Yorkers need this apartment and an apartment like it. Yet your apartment remains rented to rich people who don’t need it," Cuomo continued.
During a campaign event on Monday, Mamdani responded to Cuomo's freshly proposed law "that will keep the rich out of New York’s affordable housing."
"What do we know about this policy proposal beyond the fact that it seeks to evict me from my apartment?" Mamdani questioned on Monday.
"Like so much of Andrew Cuomo's politics, it is characterized by a petty vindictiveness. It leaves far more questions than it has answers. How many New Yorkers would this apply to? How many New Yorkers would be evicted from their apartments? How many New Yorkers would have their lives upended by a former governor who is responding to the fact that he was handily beaten by a tenant of a rent-stabilized apartment?" Mamdani asked.
An apartment building advertising "For Rent" stands in the Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan, Jan. 11, 2018. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
"I live rent-free in his head," Mamdani trolled Cuomo, arguing he had many years to implement such policies as governor but is now only focused on trying to reckon with a "political defeat."
Soon after Mamdani's criticism, the Cuomo campaign unveiled his proposal to protect rent-stabilized apartments from being occupied by high-income individuals.
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"Under Cuomo’s proposal, when a rent-stabilized apartment becomes vacant, the incoming individual income would be capped so that the annual rent makes up at least 30 percent of that income. For example, if an apartment rents for $2,500 a month ($30,000 per year), the new tenant’s income could not exceed $100,000," according to the plan.
The Cuomo campaign also clarified that "Zohran's law" would only apply to vacant apartments.
Deirdre Heavey is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cuomo-proposes-zohrans-law-protect-rent-stabilized-housing-from-wealthy