Will the real Zohran Mamdani please stand up?
Is he the socialist mayoral candidate who states in his housing plan that New York City has been foolishly “waiting on the real estate industry to solve a housing crisis from which they profit”?
That version of Mamdani says rezoning to encourage private development doesn’t deliver on its promises — he cites the lack of projects in rezoned Soho — and it produces housing that “is often out of reach for working families who need it the most.”
Or is he the realist who surfaced when the New York Times asked, “What’s one issue in politics that you’ve changed your mind about?”
The Mamdani doppelganger answered, “The role of the private market in housing construction.”
WHAT?
Mamdani elaborated:
“I clearly recognize now that there is a very important role to be played, and one that city government must facilitate through the increasing of density around mass transit hubs, the ending of the requirement to build parking lots, as well as the need to upzone neighborhoods that have historically not contributed to affordable housing production — namely, wealthier neighborhoods.”
That’s not something a socialist would say. Socialists oppose profit and believe government should control the means of production. He has promised $100 billion worth of social housing.
Is Mamdani not really a socialist? Or is he a socialist when speaking to his base, but a realist when seeking votes he desperately needs to catch frontrunner Andrew Cuomo? Specifically, votes from the kind of people who read the New York Times.
It’s good that at least one iteration of Mamdani realizes the housing crisis cannot be solved without the private sector, even if the other Mamdani hasn’t admitted that his social housing plan promises more units at a smaller cost than it can possibly deliver.
It would be even better if Mamdani spoke that gospel to his ultra-progressive base, which is idealistic about what the public sector can deliver and cynical about what the private sector can.
Candidates tend not to deliver unwelcome truths to their followers just prior to an election, for fear of diminishing their enthusiasm. But Mamdani might have realized that he needs more than the far left to win, so is pivoting toward reality.
How far he shifts remains to be seen, but this close to the June 24 primary, it is unlikely that he will walk back any of his policy positions — such as that all new housing units be rent-stabilized. He certainly will not abandon his pledge to freeze stabilized rents.
Taken together, that means he wants developers to build housing where the rent never goes up. Clearly, this is a man who has never recruited equity investors or sought a construction loan.
So Mamdani’s about-face on development, while welcome, should be taken with a block of salt. He can rezone until the cows come home, but the private sector cannot produce all the housing that’s technically allowed if ultra-progressive requirements are attached to it.
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The Daily Dirt: Candidate claims landlords reject subsidy to cry poverty
