Mayor Zohran Mamdani launched his official multi-pronged strategy to tackle the city’s crippling housing crisis last week. The proposed “Block by Block” plan lays out a vision for building more affordable housing, protecting tenants, and rehabbing New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) buildings.
“I think for too long, city government has looked at the scale of NYCHA’s capital needs and used it as a justification to do nothing, the argument being they need more than $80 billion. Anything we do is (consequential),” said Mamdani at a May 27 press conference in Brooklyn. “We cannot afford to wait any longer.”
The plan includes a total of $5.6 billion in the city’s five-year capital plan among existing funds, investments made in the preliminary plan, and the mayor’s first executive budget. The city is still holding hearings to determine a final budget as of this June.
“The Reagan administration’s decision that precipitated these cuts for public housing — that is a decision that has been maintained across both Republican and Democratic administrations. NYCHA residents have come to this feeling of being overlooked because of government at every single level,” said Mamdani. “We are excited now to start to walk on a path where we will tell every single level of government that the city is here and ready to finally be a partner in this kind of investment.” In Mamdani’s first few days in office, he signed an executive order directing city agencies to hold Rental Ripoff hearings across the city. NYCHA residents, who represent the largest group of tenants in the city — with a population that is approximately 42% Black and 45% Hispanic — were initially excluded in the hearings. They demanded an equal platform to speak about their living conditions and personal experiences.
The administration has since pivoted to a NYCHA in Your Neighborhood listening tour, as well as investing toward NYCHA in the mayor’s Block by Block plan. The plan aims to boost resident engagement and elections in NYCHA’s 200 resident associations; address longstanding issues such as mold mediation, leaks, and rats with urgency; and fund the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program, which converts properties from Section 9 to Section 8 via Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) and the Public Housing Preservation Trust.
Praise and criticism for the plan
NYCHA was created in 1934, and was primarily maintained by federal resources until the 1960s and ’70s. In 1973, federal funding for more public housing construction was suspended, ushering in the age of voucher-based funding under the Section 8 program the next year. By the 1990s, federal funding had declined steeply. Into the early 2000s, New York city and state had stopped financially supporting 20,000 NYCHA units. This led to a federal monitor overseeing NYCHA after a lawsuit was filed against the city, NYCHA, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Southern District of New York (SDNY) in 2019.
The city is now investing $256 million in capital funds and $118 million in expense funds through fiscal year 2030 to restore vacant NYCHA apartments.
“We are glad to see NYCHA centered in the affordable housing plan, which we have supported for nearly a decade,” said Citizens Budget Commission President Andrew S. Rein in a statement. “[The plan] will deliver for NYCHA residents by maximizing PACT, the Preservation Trust, and new infill development — the most viable strategies to swiftly repair and rebuild. We also applaud taking a critical look at the City’s building codes, including unique requirements for elevators and plumbing that contribute to New York having the world’s highest construction costs. These kinds of reforms are wonky but essential to the plan’s success. We look forward to reviewing the plan in full.”
There are plenty of housing advocates excited by the mayor’s Block by Block plan. However, some groups, like Save Section 9, are still apprehensive about the possible privatization of public housing under the guise of improvements. Residents and advocates have been wary for years of public-private partnerships and the PACT/RAD program transferring NYCHA developments from Section 9 public housing to Section 8, fearing that rents would go up or their buildings would be leased out from under them.
“Removing public housing from being a public asset [is] something that does a disservice from the people who have lived here and built a legacy in public housing through years of inequity, through years of divestment,” said Jeff Tineo, tenant association president for Vladeck Houses, at a rally in Manhattan on May 30. “I don’t see the reason why we should put our future in the hands of private interests.”
According to Magda Napoleon, a Manhattan District Leader, “I appreciate Mayor Mamdani’s attempt to tackle the NYCHA crisis. However, it falls short of the vision … We supported Mayor Mamdani’s leadership because we believed he understood that public housing is a public responsibility, not a real estate opportunity. We believed he would champion solutions rooted in investment accountability and resident power. After decades of disinvestment and neglect, the solution cannot be to hand public housing over to [private] interests.”
Mamdani is also accelerating housing development and expanding affordable housing on city-owned land. The plan accounts for both 100% affordable and mixed-income housing, including housing co-located with public facilities such as libraries and schools.
“No single tool will get our city out of its housing crisis,” said Public Advocate Jumaane Williams in a statement. “I commend the administration for a framework that uses so many of the tools available: recognizing that we need to not only build but preserve units, setting income-targeted affordability goals, and prioritizing investment in NYCHA.”
The recently passed 2026 state budget includes $140 million total toward NYCHA, $85 million for the Mitchell Lama Preservation and Homeownership Program, $40 million for vacant apartment repair program, $2.6 million for the Housing Opportunities Program for the Elderly (RESTORE), $10 million to support first-time homebuyers, $40 million for establishing more land banks, and legislation that replaces the expiring J-51 tax abatement program to preserve and improve rent-regulated and affordable housing in the city.
