“I am calling on you to move out immediately,” Cuomo wrote in a widely viewed social media post, branding Mamdani “a very rich person” occupying an apartment “that could otherwise be used by a homeless family.”
The attack drew tens of millions of views online and reignited a long-standing debate over who should benefit from New York’s rent-stabilisation system, which covers roughly 40% of the city’s rental housing and does not currently impose income limits.Mamdani, who represents Astoria in the State Assembly, won the Democratic primary in July, defeating Cuomo by a comfortable margin in the city’s ranked-choice contest. The victory made him the party’s nominee for the November general election, where he faces a crowded field that includes Cuomo running as an independent, incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, Republican Curtis Sliwa, and independent Jim Walden. Polls currently show Mamdani in the lead, with Cuomo trailing by nearly 20 points.
Mamdani, 33, is a Democratic Socialist and a rising figure on the city’s left. His primary campaign for mayor centred on housing affordability, strengthening tenant protections, and freezing rent on stabilised apartments to prevent displacement. He has argued that rent-stabilised housing is a tool for neighbourhood stability, not an exclusive poverty programme.
The lawmaker earns $143,000 a year and pays $2,300 a month for a one-bedroom he shares with his wife — an arrangement Cuomo called “disgusting.”
Cuomo, a multimillionaire with deep ties to the city’s real estate sector, lives in a Midtown Manhattan apartment costing about $8,000 per month, having moved from the affluent suburb of Westchester County last year.
On Monday, Cuomo went further by unveiling a proposal he dubbed “Zohran’s Law,” which would bar landlords from renting vacant rent-stabilised units to “wealthy tenants” — defined as anyone whose rent would be less than 30% of their income. His plan would, in effect, impose income restrictions for the first time in the programme’s history.
Housing experts and tenant advocates quickly criticised the idea, saying it would create bureaucratic headaches and undermine the original purpose of rent stabilisation.
“Rent stabilisation has never been means tested because it’s not an affordable housing programme, it’s a programme about neighbourhood stability,” said Ellen Davidson, a housing attorney at The Legal Aid Society, according to AP.
Mamdani’s campaign dismissed the proposal as political theatre. “While Cuomo cares only for the well-being of his Republican donors, Zohran believes the city government’s job is to guarantee a life of dignity, not determine who is worth one,” said his spokesperson Dora Pekec as per an AP report.
(With inputs from AP)
First Published: Aug 13, 2025 11:57 AM IS
