{"id":609,"date":"2026-05-27T22:12:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T22:12:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=609"},"modified":"2026-05-27T22:12:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T22:12:43","slug":"exclusive-mamdanis-plan-to-transfer-building-ownership-to-tenants-uses-existing-nyc-programs-that-have-repeatedly-failed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=609","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive | Mamdani’s plan to ‘transfer’ building ownership to tenants uses existing NYC programs — that have repeatedly failed"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s newly unveiled push to strip properties from bad landlords and bestow them onto \u201cresponsible\u201d owners has been happening for years in New York City \u2014\u00a0and has repeatedly proven to be a failure, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n

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The socialist mayor, as he announced his sprawling housing plan Wednesday, vowed to use city resources to help \u201cremove negligent owners\u201d and transfer buildings that have \u201csuffered chronic neglect\u201d into the hands of \u201cresponsible stewards.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the administration\u2019s initiative, dubbed \u201cFix the City,\u201d aims to make use of already existing bureaucratic and agency programs that date back to at least the 1970s \u2014\u00a0and have repeatedly needed the government to swoop in with bailouts, a Post review found.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city has long tried to help tenants become owners of buildings, but tenants aren\u2019t necessarily equipped to run the building,\u201d one former insider at the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need someone to be a good bookkeeper and to collect rent from the neighbors,\u201d the source said, adding, \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to do and hard to do well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani\u2019s main mechanism, which he touted to hold landlords accountable, would be for the city to drag alleged bad actors to court in an attempt to implement a little-known program, named 7A, in which a housing court judge would appoint a non-profit to take over the management of a building.<\/p>\n

Another pillar of the mayor\u2019s plan calls for City Hall to ramp up the number of buildings that are collectively owned and operated by the people who live there \u2014 framing it as a revolutionary path to increasing homeownership in a city where roughly 70% of residents are renters.<\/p>\n

Under the Housing Development Fund Corporation program, the cooperatives are run by the \u201cshareholders\u201d and subject to strict regulations, such as limits on income for residents and subletting and resale rates.<\/p>\n

There are roughly 1,100 such affordable co-ops currently across the Big Apple \u2014 though an investigation by state Attorney General Letitia James announced last year found that nearly all of them were considered \u201chigh risk\u201d and needed help.<\/p>\n

The AG\u2019s office, along with then-Mayor Eric Adams, rolled out a $750,000 bailout for the buildings, which were found to have fallen behind on rental collection, stopped making tax payments, run up high levels of debt or racked up a staggering number of code violations.<\/p>\n

The buildings, which are granted a slew of tax breaks and financial help from the city, are overseen by the HPD agency, but each has a board of directors that is \u201clegally\u201d required to act in the co-op\u2019s best interest.<\/p>\n

Mamdani also pushed for the passing of the controversial Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA), giving non-profits the first shot at buying distressed buildings. The legislation was approved by the City Council last year but vetoed by Adams.<\/p>\n

Housing non-profits, however, are already at a \u201cbreaking point,\u201d according to a recent alarming report that called for a massive government bailout of the industry.<\/p>\n

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The February report from the Association of Neighborhood Housing and Development found that 290,000 of the city\u2019s already-existing subsidized, non-profit-run buildings were financially underwater.<\/p>\n

\u201cRising cost, stagnant revenues and unpredictable federal support have created conditions where even mission-driven nonprofits \u2014 those that rebuilt neighborhoods when the private market walked away \u2014 can no longer sustain their portfolios without intervention,\u201d the report warned, calling for a bailout and reforms.<\/p>\n

City Hall described the buildings that would be subject to the effort as \u201cchronically negligent,\u201d but couldn\u2019t define that term when pressed by The Post.<\/p>\n

Kenny Burgos, CEO of the New York Apartment Association, panned the mayor as merely disguising a push for government subsidy hikes as a housing plan \u2014 with \u201cflailing solutions that don\u2019t meet the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t afford it today and we won\u2019t be able to afford that tomorrow,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cNonprofits and affordable co-ops are screaming from their crumbling rooftops that the rents don\u2019t cover costs,\u201d Burgos said. \u201cThe city should crack down on bad actors but changing ownership simply moves the financial burden to taxpayers, permanently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Humberto Lopes, a 61-year-old building owner who recently formed the Gotham Housing Alliance to represent the interests of small and large building owners, railed that the mayor should focus on the city\u2019s beleaguered public housing system instead.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWhy don\u2019t you start with them first,\u201d he said of NYCHA, railing, \u201cWhen did this become a communist country where a dictator could come in and take my building and give it to the f\u2013ing peasant?\u201d<\/p>\n

The AG\u2019s office did not say how the funds announced in September 2025 for the cooperatives were doled out, referring The Post to HPD, which did not respond to questions.<\/p>\n

Mamdani also announced he plans to use a public-private trust for NYCHA \u2013 which he opposed as a state lawmaker \u2013 to help fix existing public housing buildings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen necessary, we will take aggressive legal action to remove negligent owners and property managers,\u201d he crowed at Wednesday\u2019s news conference. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd for buildings that have suffered chronic neglect, we will work to transfer ownership to responsible stewards. Stewards that include community land trusts, nonprofits or even the tenants themselves,\u201d he said \u2014\u00a0to roaring cheers from pro-tenant advocates in attendance.<\/p>\n

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“The city has long tried to help tenants become owners of buildings, but tenants are necessary equipped to run the building,” one former insider at the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-metro"],"yoast_head":"\nExclusive | Mamdani's plan to 'transfer' building ownership to tenants uses existing NYC programs - that have repeatedly failed - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=609\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Exclusive | Mamdani's plan to 'transfer' building ownership to tenants uses existing NYC programs - 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