Mamdani's Housing Agenda Spells Erasure for Black Homeowners

As Zohran Mamdani positions himself for higher office, the media paints him as the face of progressivism in New York City. But for Black and Brown homeowners, his platform represents something far more destructive: dispossession, displacement, and the fast-tracking of our communities’ erasure.

We’ve already seen the blueprint.

Local Law 18: The Beginning of Dispossession

Local Law 18 — crafted and pushed with the full backing of the Hotel Trades Council (HTC) — devastated small homeowners across the outer boroughs. These weren’t corporate landlords. They were Black and Brown families relying on short-term rentals to keep pace with skyrocketing costs, oppressive taxes, and an unforgiving housing market.
By cutting off this lifeline, Local Law 18 stripped thousands of homeowners of the supplemental income they needed to survive. Mamdani’s open loyalty to HTC makes clear: he intends to double down on the same agenda.

A Wave of Foreclosures

Meanwhile, policies suffocating landlords of rent-stabilized buildings have triggered a foreclosure crisis now sweeping through Black and Brown neighborhoods. Bloomberg recently reported that more than 5,000 rent-stabilized apartments are headed to auction because owners cannot even afford basic maintenance. Warehousing wasn’t greed — it was survival in the face of impossible mandates. Now, these properties are sliding into foreclosure and, eventually, government seizure.
This outcome isn’t incidental. It aligns neatly with Mamdani’s previously stated goal: the abolition of private property. And it won’t stop with large landlords. Small homeowners — the very backbone of Black New York — are next in line.

Mamdani’s Misguided Defense of Local Law 18

Mamdani has said he opposes amending Local Law 18 “while the city’s housing stock remains at record lows,” arguing that New York “cannot afford more Airbnbs.” But here’s the truth: private dwellings are not part of the city’s housing stock under state law. They are primary residences — homes that people and families live in, with no obligation to offer them on the long-term rental market. To conflate the two is either dishonest or dangerously uninformed.
And the idea that New York “cannot afford more Airbnbs” is just as absurd. In reality, New York City desperately needs more short-term rentals — not fewer. Every additional unit means more tourism revenue flowing into the city, more dollars circulating in the local economies of the outer boroughs, and more support for the small businesses in under-resourced communities that rely on foot traffic to survive. At the same time, these rentals provide crucial supplemental income for small homeowners struggling under crushing costs. For thousands of Black and Brown families, this income isn’t luxury — it’s survival.
Small homeowners are not in competition with the hotel industry. To claim otherwise — as Mamdani repeats from the HTC’s talking points — is pure misinformation, crafted to protect hotel profits at the expense of working-class homeowners. That is not progressivism. That is erasure.
And Mamdani leaves out an even harsher truth: countless two-family homeowners who placed their additional units into the long-term rental market are now stuck with non-paying tenants — sometimes for years — as housing court drags on. During that time, these owners remain responsible for utilities, taxes, insurance, and every bill tied to the property.
The result? Units that could have been voluntarily added to the long-term market are not just offline — they are occupied without payment, while the homeowner absorbs all the costs. This isn’t just unfair; it’s catastrophic. It is one of the key drivers of the foreclosure surge sweeping the city.
So when Mamdani claims to be defending “housing stock,” what he’s really defending is a broken system that punishes small homeowners, fuels foreclosures, and accelerates the displacement of the very Black and Brown families he claims to champion.

Districts on the Frontlines

The foreclosure crisis isn’t evenly spread. It’s concentrated in neighborhoods overwhelmingly represented by Black and Brown councilmembers — areas where generational wealth is now at risk of vanishing.

• District 46 – Mercedes Narcisse: Canarsie (ZIP 11236) led the city in new foreclosure filings in Q2 2025.
• District 42 – Chris Banks: East New York and Starrett City remain ground zero for foreclosures.
• District 41 – Darlene Mealy: Brownsville continues to bleed homeowners.
• District 37 – Sandy Nurse: East New York, Bushwick, and Cypress Hills are foreclosure flashpoints.
• District 16 – Althea Stevens: Morrisania is one of the hardest-hit Bronx neighborhoods.
• District 17 – Rafael Salamanca Jr.: Tremont and surrounding areas are on the brink.
• District 18 – Amanda Farías: Parkchester (ZIP 10462) is under severe foreclosure pressure.
• District 31 – Selvena Brooks-Powers: Laurelton and Springfield Gardens (ZIP 11413) are majority-Black homeowner neighborhoods under siege.
• District 28 – Adrienne Adams (Speaker): Jamaica and Rochdale Village rank among the highest foreclosure zones in NYC.
• District 27 – Nantasha Williams: Jamaica ZIP codes consistently top foreclosure charts.

These are not abstract numbers. They are the homes of working- and middle-class Black families — people who invested their lives into neighborhoods now being stripped away by policy-driven displacement.

Councilmembers Already Know the Answer

Some leaders have already acknowledged the stakes. Chris Banks, Farah Louis, Mercedes Narcisse, and Kevin Riley co-sponsored Intros 948 and 1107 — clear, common-sense solutions designed to give small, primary-residence homeowners a path to compliance and survival.
But bills like 948 and 1107 were aggressively targeted by the Hotel Trades Council and its allies, who spread lies and false narratives to pit renters against small homeowners — usually Black and Brown — while quietly protecting their own financial interests. And Mamdani chose to take their side.
Here’s the political reality: if you look at districts made up largely of Black and Brown small homeowners, a clear trend emerges — Mamdani did not win there. From Adrienne Adams’s district in Southeast Queens, to Mercedes Narcisse’s in Canarsie, to Kevin Riley’s in the Bronx, Black communities are rejecting his brand of politics. Why? Because, like so many before him, he does not speak to our needs. And what’s worse, his campaign gives the impression that he doesn’t even believe that he needs to.

Leadership, Legacy, and the Power to Act

Speaker Adrienne Adams represents a district in Southeast Queens that has been hit especially hard by foreclosures — Jamaica, Rochdale Village, and South Ozone Park. These neighborhoods are home to thousands of Black and Brown families who worked their entire lives to secure a piece of the American dream. Today, they stand on the verge of losing it.
As Speaker of the City Council, Adrienne Adams carries immense responsibility. She also holds the power to bring Intro 948 or 1107 to a hearing. These bills may not solve every housing challenge, but they provide a lifeline for small homeowners unfairly squeezed by policies like Local Law 18.
Zohran Mamdani did not win her district in the primary. He does not speak for Southeast Queens. Speaker Adams does. And as she nears the conclusion of her final term, this is the kind of moment that defines legacies. Standing with the small homeowners of her district — and of every Black and Brown district across the city — would be a lasting testament to leadership that put people before politics.
But the Speaker cannot and should not stand alone. The rest of the City Council must rally to her side — and to the side of every Black councilmember representing districts filled with people of color struggling to survive. The time for hesitation is over. The Council must pass this bill with haste, effective immediately, and send a clear message: New York City will not abandon its small homeowners, and it will not allow Black and Brown families to be erased from the communities they built.

The Choice Before Us

All of the rhetoric Mamdani proposes usually leads to the same end result for Black New Yorkers: gentrification.
Mamdani’s progressivism is not liberation. It is dispossession, wrapped in the language of equity. If Black and Brown councilmembers do not act now, their own constituents will be driven from the homes they fought for generations to hold.
Intros 948 and 1107 are the line in the sand. They are the Council’s chance to prove it represents the people of this city — not the special interests that profit from their displacement.
History will remember who stood up for Black homeowners, and who stood aside while they were erased.

Tony Lindsay is president of New York Homeowners Alliance, a nonprofit advocating for small homeowners in New York City. He is also an award-winning filmmaker and author of From Passive to Powerful.