Mamdani drops announcement we’ve WAITED FOR

I'm joined now by the mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani. Thanks so much for. joining me. >> How's it going? Thanks so much for being. here in person, man. >> So, tell me about what we're doing here. today. You have an announcement as it. relates to housing, which is one of the. top priorities that not only you ran on, but that Americans and New Yorkers. specifically are focused on. >> Absolutely, and I think it's something. that unites people no matter where they. live in this country. It's a feeling. that no matter how hard they work, that. rent check or that check for their. mortgage is just going to wipe them out. every single month. And what we've heard. from so many New Yorkers is that they're. paying so much, and often times what. they're receiving back in return in.

terms of the conditions of their housing. is just unacceptable. So, we made a. decision to hold for the first time in. city history something called rental. rip-off hearings. We went to every. single one of the five boroughs, and we. gave tenants an avenue to come forward. and tell us what were the struggles they. were facing. We had more than 2,000 New. Yorkers come to us across these five. different hearings, and today we. announced not only the results of the. findings of those hearings, but the. policies that we're going to introduce. to change those conditions. >> Okay, so I want to get into those.

policies in a moment, but just set the. stage in terms of what people have been. contending with. Give a little bit of. color in terms of what you heard from. these hearings. >> Yeah, it it ranges from. an issue that New Yorkers are having. with an elevator that's broken down in. their building, and it's not fixed for. weeks if not months on end. It ranges to. even the fact that while you can order. food on your phone and know where it is. at every single stage, if you call for. an inspection of the conditions in your. apartment and you're not there when the.

inspector comes, you simply have to hope. that you'll be there the next time. >> Yeah. >> And so, some of these things we've made. the decision to actually bring our. housing code and our housing enforcement. up to 2026, the year that we're living. in. And so, now if you're not home when. an inspector comes, you can just. reschedule the appointment for when you. will be home. Right? These are common. sense things that make it easier for. working people, because again, we're. talking about people who are spending. their entire their. trying to go to work and make enough. money to take care of themselves and. their family, they don't need another.

concern, another issue, another obstacle. to face when it comes to their housing. conditions. >> Were there any stories in particular. that stuck with you in terms of the. helplessness that people feel when it. comes to an issue like housing where. where, you know, there hasn't been help, there hasn't been responsive government. in the past during these hearings? >> Absolutely. You know, I went to one of. these hearings and I sat across from a. tenant who pulled out her phone and. showed me a video of her neighbor whose. daughter is disabled. And this video was. showing her neighbor picking up her.

daughter and climbing her up the stairs. because the elevator was broken. >> Yeah. >> So often when you're talking about these. issues, you become almost numb as if they're. just statistics. And every now and then. you hear from someone and you realize. these have day-to-day impacts. These are. life-changing issues. If we don't. address them, people are forced to. resort to things they should never have. to do in New York City. >> So talk to me about the policies that. are being um enacted right now to kind. of rectify some of these issues that you. found during these rental rip-off. hearings. >> Well, there are few policies. One is.

that for the first time we're going to. say that when you find mold in an. apartment, the answer is not going to be. acceptable if the if the landlord just. says, "I'm going to paint over it and. call it resolved." That's not going to. be acceptable any longer in New York. City. The other is that for the first. time starting on October 1st, we're. going to investigate every single heat. complaint in our city. We just had one. of the coldest winters we've seen in. years. There was a day where I woke up. and I was informed that there were parts. of New York City that were colder than. Antarctica. And in that same time. period, you have tenants who do not have.

working heat. And when you don't have. working heat, you are forced to use. space heaters and other things that. increase the danger of living in that. apartment. >> Right. >> And so we're actually going to be. investigating every single heat. complaint. And what we're also going to. be doing is bringing, as I said, things. back up to 2026. Right now, the entire. system of code enforcement when it comes. to cataloging violations, it's on paper. So we are going to digitize this system. and that makes it easier not only to. hold bad landlords accountable, but also. help landlords who want to clear their. violations and have that be recorded.

>> So, in terms of doing this stuff, I. mean, you've been in office for, I. think, 5 minutes now. Uh usually when you see Democrats come. into office and try and institute some. policies like this, it'll be 18 months. of a commission going out and issuing. and meeting issuing some theoretical. guidance and then those findings will be. implemented over the course of 5 to 55. years from now and it just never feels. like anything gets done. Talk to me. about the importance of doing this so.

quickly and being responsive to people. >> I think we have to ask ourselves why is. it the people have lost faith in. politics and a lot of it has to do with. exactly what you said. They've lost. faith because politics increasingly. seems irrelevant to their life and their. struggles. And I would come to the same. conclusion if I reported something and. then found out that it was going to be. addressed in 60 years. >> Yeah. >> We need to move as fast as working New. Yorkers do. I mean, I think about that. all the time. If a New Yorker is late, the speed that they're walking at is. faster than our city buses. That's why.

we have to speed up our buses. That's. why we have to actually bring up to this. housing code up to the year that we're. living in. And what we want to ensure is. that the same tenants who came to those. hearings cuz they took time out of their. lives to come to these hearings. You. work a backbreaking day of work, you. choose to go to a city government. hearing, we have to show them they made. the right decision, to validate the. faith and the hope that they have, and. then to make it easier for the person. who didn't believe to say, "You know. what? Maybe things are different.". Because if we don't do this, we've seen.

that it almost feels as if the. Republican Party has a monopoly on. ambition, on speed. We obviously. disagree with what the vision is, but we. can't be the party of inaction and. they're the party of action because then. it doesn't even matter what it's for or. what it's fighting in opposition to. >> To that end, in terms of the difference. between the two parties, we just saw. that there was a housing bill that. Republicans and Democrats had come. together to pass. Donald Trump had. refused to sign it. Can you contrast. that that that what we're seeing at the. federal level with the fact that you're.

taking action right now at the local. level in New York? >> Well, I think it comes back to the fact. that often times it feels like politics. is driving the entire process here as. opposed to the people that are supposed. to be at the heart of it. And what I. mean by politics is. we should be able to reckon with. the inadequacies of housing code. We shouldn't have it such that when you. talk about a landlord painting over mold. that there's anyone who comes forward. and says, "That's fine. That's okay.". >> But the incentives in our politics make. for that. >> Right. Just knee-jerk reactions to to.

just to to being a contrarian to what. the other side says. >> And and I think the other point is that. for a long time it's felt like all we. have in opposition are ideas. Politics. can't afford to just be a debate. >> Right. >> We have an opportunity in New York City. to show that we can deliver on this. So. that when we're actually contrasting. visions, we're able to contrast results. So when people ask, "What does it look. like to have a democratic socialist in. charge?" We don't have to imagine or go. to a country outside of this one. We can. say, "Well, in New York City, it looks. like upgrading the housing codes. It. looks like tenants winning more than $60.

million in money that was owed to them. from bad landlords who made negligence a. business model. It looks like paving. 175,000 potholes. That's what it looks. like.". >> In terms of how this could be. extrapolated into national Democrats. offering them a blueprint for what they. could do. Yes, you did this on housing, but but what would you offer to to to. the national party in terms of how they. could take the lessons learned here and. and have that inform what the rest of. our priorities are? >> I think for too long it has felt as if.

we have allowed words like quality of. life or efficiency or fighting fraud and. waste as if they are Republican. concerns. Those should be at the heart. of our own concerns. So, while we are. delivering on this rental rip-off report. and implementing new policies, we're. also pursuing a commission on government. excellence coach. And what this. commission on on efficiency and on. excellence is looking to do is I'm. assuming that that one isn't going to. just be to fire all of the the. regulators. We're we're not actually trying to just.

rip apart the parts of government that. help people the most. What we're trying. to do is rip apart the delays that are. preventing working people from getting. what they deserve. And I think as you. said it earlier, what we want to show. New Yorkers are results. All of these. days of debate, we want to make it about. delivery. And when you have that. delivery, then it is harder to argue. because you're talking about the impact. you're making to working people's lives. Thank you so much for the time. I. appreciate it. It's a real pleasure. Thank you for being here, my friend. Thank you.

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