Mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani on Monday blasted the “petty vindictiveness” of rival Andrew Cuomo’s proposed “Zohran’s Law” that would target privileged New Yorkers who live in rent-stabilized homes — but gave no sign he’ll move out.
Mamdani, 33, who lives in a $2,300-a-month rent-stabilized Astoria apartment while pulling $142,000 a year as state assemblyman, condemned Cuomo’s proposal as dangerously detail-free.
“What do we know about this policy proposal beyond the fact that it seeks to evict me from my apartment?” the Queens lawmaker said.
“Like so much of Andrew Cuomo’s politics, it is characterized by a petty vindictiveness… 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?”
Cuomo, the former governor, saw his dreams of a convincing political comeback dashed in the Democratic mayoral contest when the socialist Mamdani utterly trounced him, securing more primary votes than any Big Apple Dem in three decades.
The defeat didn’t stop Cuomo from launching an independent mayoral run, with an emphasis on aggressively attacking Mamdani and making cringe-inducing posts on social media.
The ex-gov concocted “Zohran’s Law” as Mamdani — the son of well-known filmmaker and a professor — faced criticism for not giving up his rent-stabilized apartment in what critics said was a hypocritical stance that clashed with his pro-affordable housing campaign message.
“We’re not supposed to be providing rent-stabilized apartments to the children of millionaires,” Cuomo said Sunday.
“Somewhere last night in New York City, a single mother and her children slept at a homeless shelter because you, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, are occupying her rent-controlled apartment,” he twisted the knife in a viral tweet.
“I am calling on you to move out immediately and give your affordable housing back to an unhoused family who need it.”
Rent-stabilized homes account for 1 million units — or half of all apartments — in New York City.
Rent control, which Cuomo inaccurately said applies to Mamdani’s apartment, is for tenants who’ve lived continuously in their homes since 1971.
Cuomo’s actual proposal wouldn’t evict high-income New Yorkers from rent-stabilized apartments but would only apply once a rent-stabilized apartment becomes vacant.
The incoming renter’s income would be capped so that the annual rent makes up at least 30% of that income, meaning a $2,500-a-year apartment can only have tenants who make less than $100,000.
Mamdani’s spokeswoman Dora Pekac blasted Cuomo’s supposed hypocrisy.
“Andrew Cuomo—the disgraced former governor who casually handed a billion-dollar tax break to Elon Musk—wants working New Yorkers to prove how much they are struggling before he approves their lease,” she said. “While Cuomo cares only for the well-being of his Republican donors, Zohran believes city government’s job is to guarantee a life of dignity, not determine who is worth one.”
Mamdani repeated his skepticism over such “means testing” as an approach, noting the MTA’s “Fair Fares” program only serves about 40% of eligible low-income New Yorkers.
He said a free bus pilot program that he championed didn’t make more millionaires and billionaires ride the bus, but rather helped increase ridership by New Yorkers who already qualified for Fair Fares.
Beyond that, Mamdani argued that Cuomo’s decisions as governor — particularly slashing $65 million in rental assistance programs — helped lead to a surge in Big Apple homelessness.
“What Andrew Cuomo is proposing, be it the rent control he cited, the rent stabilization he intends to speak about, is in many ways reflective of the fact that I live rent-free in his head,” Mamdani said, giving no indication he planned to leave his home.
“He’s not looking to reflect on the fact that he eliminated more affordable housing than he created. He’s not looking to reckon with his cutting of a voucher program that was then followed by a significant increase in homelessness in New York City. He’s not looking to reckon with any of that.”
Mayor Eric Adams, who is also running as an independent, used the spat to attack both of his challengers.
“Rent-stabilized, low-income apartments should be just for that low-income people,” the mayor said.
“I keep telling people how we have to fix Cuomo’s mess. He created this in 2019 when he took away the standards of who could stay in these apartments. This is one of his problems. He’s complaining about who is in these apartments being high-income earners, but he created this.”
Additional reporting by Carl Campanile and Craig McCarthy
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