That’s a really bad mark.
Whoever moves into New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s rent-stabilized apartment in Queens will spend $800, or 35 percent, more per month than the socialist “Nippo Baby,” The Washington Post has learned.
Sources say the Astoria apartments have quietly attracted interest from potential tenants in the past few weeks and are currently renting at $3,100 a month, while rents have remained stable.
The newest residents of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s rent-stabilized apartment in Astoria, Queens, will pay an extra $800 a month, The Washington Post has learned. Andrew Schwartz/SplashNews.com
Mamdani will move into Gracie Mansion with his “cold” artist wife Rama Duwaji after he is sworn in on January 1. He took a break from renting a one-bedroom apartment in Astoria for seven years, paying about $2,300 because the landlord charged him far less than what was allowed by law.
The son of Mira Nair, a Millionaire Award-nominated filmmaker, and Mahmood Mamdani, a tenured professor at Columbia University, is enjoying so-called “preferential rents” — temporary discounts that landlords sometimes offer rent-stabilized apartments to attract tenants in a weak market.
But with New York’s rental market in disarray, with rents hitting record highs since he moved in, the next tenant won’t be able to enjoy the same benefits.
“In a nutshell, isn’t this what democratic socialists are in New York, America?” said New York City Council Minority Leader Joanne Arriola (R-Queens).
“One Nebo baby leaves his low-end apartment to buy a mansion, the next person’s prices are jacked up, and some ill-conceived legislation forces landlords to list off-site to avoid the fees imposed on them by ‘progressive’ policies.”
Mamdani, who was elected on promises of affordability and a freeze on rent increases, confirmed to The Washington Post last week that he was giving up his proletarian digs.
Mamdani and Rama Duwaji will move into Gracie Mansion after January 1. Brigitte Stelzer
“I gave up!” Mamdani insisted to a Washington Post reporter outside his 35th Street apartment building on Dec. 20, then laughed off a question about whether he was sad to leave and walk into the apartment.
To add insult to injury, Mamdani’s apartments are being rented off-site — a practice that has exploded since the city’s new Apartment Rental Rate Fairness (FARE) law went into effect in June.
The controversial ban on broker fees — which Mamdani himself lobbied for as a state legislator — sent prices skyrocketing as fees were rolled into rent.
The Astoria complex pays an additional $800 a month in rent, a 35 percent increase over what the socialist “Baby Nibo” pays. JC Rice
An analysis by real estate firm UrbanDigs found that New York’s residential listing service, the Real Estate Council, has seen a 77% drop in new listings since the Fare Act was enacted, as more brokers keep exclusive listings “off-market” as a way to get around the ban.
This, coupled with the 2019 rent reforms that resulted in many landlords finding it more financially feasible to leave rent-stabilized units vacant rather than rent them out, has left supply at an all-time low and rents at an all-time high.
Several tenants have inquired about the space at 32-15 35th Street. MQ Real Estate LLC
“This is exactly what New Yorkers are tired of: politicians benefiting from housing arrangements while pursuing policies that raise rents while other people’s housing disappears,” said Robert Holden, a conservative Democratic congressman from Queens.
“It’s always the same story, the trust-backed Nebo baby communists never pay the price for the policies they implement. If Mamdani’s idea of affordable housing suits only him and no one else, then it’s not affordable. That’s disingenuous.”
Despite Mamdani’s salary of $142,000 as a Queens borough council member and his vast family wealth, he was criticized during his mayoral campaign for years of living in his own dirt-cheap residence.
Mamdani and his wife will move into Gracie Mansion after he is sworn in as mayor. Associated Press
The socialist said he first acquired the apartment in the so-called People’s Republic of Astoria in late 2018 when he was making just about $47,000 a year as a foreclosure prevention housing consultant, and claimed he didn’t know the apartment was rent-stabilized.
The next year, he started complaining about the rent again.
“Today, our one-bedroom rent-stabilized apartment in Astoria goes for $2,000/month. In 1984, the same apartment went for $290.60/month. If not theft, what is this?” In November 2019, he went on a rant on X, urging his followers to check the stabilization of their apartments and ask about their rental history.
Mamdani confirmed to The Washington Post last week that he was leaving his Astoria apartment for Gracie Mansion. Brigitte Stelzer
Despite its best intentions, Gotham City’s rent stabilization system has become so competitive that it has been criticized for favoring only a few — typically well-connected or high-income earners — while distorting the broader market by forcing landlords to raise market rents to subsidize stabilization units.
Mamdani’s team did not return calls and messages from The Washington Post about the price of his Astoria condo.
