Cuomo accuses Mamdani of being a ‘very rich person,’ demands he ‘move out immediately’ from his rent-stabilized apartment

·New York CityCuomo accuses Mamdani of being a ‘very rich person,’ demands he ‘move out immediately’ from his rent-stabilized apartmentBy Jake OffenhartzBy The Associated PressBy Jake OffenhartzBy The Associated Press New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, fileAndrew Cuomo is demanding that his opponent in New York City’s mayoral race, Zohran Mamdani, vacate his rent stabilized apartment, while pushing a longshot posal that would bar other middle-class renters from accessing much of the city’s housing. “I am calling on you to move out immediately,” Cuomo wrote in a widely-viewed social media post this weekend, casting Mamdani as “a very rich person” occupying an apartment that could otherwise be used by a less family

It also illustrated the rhetorical lengths that Cuomo is willing to go to as he mounts an independent bid for mayor against Mamdani, a democratic socialist who defeated him handily in the Democratic primary on a platform that centered on affordability and freezing rent on stabilized units

Mamdani, who earns $143,000 annually as a state legislator, has said he pays $2,300 per month for a one-bedroom apartment in Queens that he s with his wife — a living situation that Cuomo called “disgusting.” By contrast, Cuomo, a multimillionaire who previously served as the state’s governor, spends roughly $8,000 monthly on an apartment in Midtown Manhattan that he moved to last year from Westchester County, a wealthy suburb

In recent weeks, the 67-year-old Cuomo has adopted a more aggressive social media presence, earning both praise and mockery for his use of millennial internet-speak and repeated references to his opponent’s “privilege.” Mamdani’s mother is a successful independent filmmaker and his father is a Columbia University fessor

But Cuomo’s idea drew swift skepticism from some housing experts, who noted the cap would, by definition, mean all new tenants of rent stabilized units would give up a substantial portion of their income. “The idea that we should only have people living in apartments they can’t afford seems to be setting people up for failure,” said Ellen Davidson, a housing attorney at The Legal Aid Society. “It’s not a posal from somebody who knows anything the housing market or New York City.” The Real Estate Board of New York, a landlord group whose members overwhelmingly backed Cuomo in the primary, did not respond to an inquiry whether they supported the posal

But in an , the group’s president, James Whelan, said that the “benefits of rent regulation are not well targeted” and that some form of means testing should be considered

Under state law, hikes on rent-stabilized units are decided by an appointed board, rather than landlords. “Rent stabilization has never been means tested because it’s not an affordable housing gram, it’s a gram neighborhood stability,” said Davidson, the housing attorney, adding that the posal would ly present a “bureaucratic nightmare.” A spokesperson for Cuomo’s campaign, Rich Azzopardi, said in a text message that “the ultra wealthy and privileged should not be taking advantage of a gram meant to aide working New Yorkers,” adding that the income threshold standards would fall under the same system that governs the city’s other grams for low-income housing

Mamdani’s spokesperson, Dora Pekec, said the posal ved that Cuomo was both desperate and out of touch. “While Cuomo cares only for the well-being of his Republican donors, Zohran believes city government’s job is to guarantee a life of dignity, not determine who is worth one,” she added

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