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Exclusive: As New York City socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani pushes solutions to the city’s housing problem, including rent freezes, Fox News Digital spoke to local experts who said the Mamdani agenda would do more harm than the housing situation.
“The fundamental problem with the New York City housing market is that there is not enough supply to meet demand,” John Ketchum, a legal policy fellow at the Manhattan Institute and city director, told Fox News Digital.
“Price is the impact of supply and demand dynamics as city governments prevent the private sector from building adequate housing through zoning, other forms of regulation, and affordable requirements, making it more work created than housing units to support the new employee population in New York City.
Mamdani positions himself as a working class champion, and those who deal with the housing crisis with policies such as rent freezes have not addressed the real issues.
Mamdani silent after Border Patrol police officers allegedly shot by illegal immigrants in New York
Fox News Digital spoke to Manhattan Institute scholar John Ketchum about Zoran Mamdani’s housing policy (Getty/Fox News Digital)
“The Congress’s Mamdani proposal to freeze rents applies only to 1 million rent-stabilized apartments,” Ketchum said. “Currently, these are units that can increase rents only at the amount determined by the Rent Guidelines Committee, and members of the Rent Guidelines Committee will be appointed by the mayor. Therefore, he essentially appoints these members and directs them to stabilize the rent.”
Ketchum continues, “Now that rents do not already cover the increased operating costs for owners of these rent-stabilized buildings, the quality of rent-stabilized housing stock is deteriorating rapidly, and when the roof is leaking and there is no capital to cover the operating costs. Tenants live in worse and worse situations each year.”
Ketchum told Fox News Digital that the situation raises the question, “Is this the type of city we want to create?”
“Or do you need a city with lots of new housing? Young people can feel that there is a choice among many different buildings and neighbours, Ketchum said.
Mamdani faced and refused to answer the “Communist” label on the streets of New York
Zohran Mamdani will speak to reporters when he leaves the Dirksen Senate office building in Washington, DC on July 16, 2025 (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Ketchum also said that the key issue with the New York City housing market is that the city already has the largest public housing authority in the country, with a total of 177,000 units. Those residents are already “suffering from really bad management,” according to Ketchum.
“On average, we need Nysha, the Public Housing Authority for 413 days to complete repairs,” Ketchum said. “It’s so bad that our left public advocate, Jumane Williams, repeatedly called Nisha the worst landlord in the city, so these are issues of looking at what New York will be.
Zohran Mamdani During the election night event in New York on Wednesday, June 25th, 2025.
Mamdani, who cut costs for New Yorkers, became the cornerstone of his campaign, but he also proposes building 200,000 affordable housing units.
Mamdani’s plans aimed at tackling the crisis of affordability and housing tag teams include an immediate freeze on rent-stabilized apartments for over 2 million people.
Fox News Digital asked Ketcham if he thought housing situation would worsen under the Mamdani administration, and replied, “I will.”
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Ketchum explained his belief that rent “reduces the quality and quantity of housing by reducing investment.”
“That’s the basic economics of it,” Ketchum said. “It was tested in other cities like Chicago and St. Louis, and in other cities like Kabrini Green and Pruitt Iggy.
“The residents of these places have to fight mold, rats and other pests. They have all sorts of crime problems, so their experiments simply didn’t work. The project.”
Fox News Digital has contacted the Mamdani campaign for comments.
Andrew Mark Miller is a Fox News reporter. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email him with tips to Andrewmark.miller@fox.com.
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