Landlord lobby will boost Cuomo with $2.5M spend
NEW YORK — A super PAC representing landlords plans to spend $2.5 million to boost mayoral front-runner Andrew Cuomo as he tries to hold off Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, who's pledged to freeze the rent on rent-regulated apartments every year as mayor.
'In this two person race, Andrew Cuomo is the best candidate to increase the supply of housing. The alternative choice is unacceptable and will decimate the housing stock,' NYAA CEO Kenny Burgos said in a statement.
The organization, which primarily represents operators of rent-regulated apartment buildings, plans to run ads in English and Spanish on broadcast and cable television, radio and the web — 'we're doing the whole shebang,' Burgos said. The advertisements aren't ready yet, he said, but they'll put a positive sheen on the former governor's housing plans, rather than attack Mamdani. Any spending will have to come soon as the race enters its final stretch. The Democratic primary is June 24, and early voting begins June 14.
The $2.5 million spend by the super PAC Housing for All is fully funded by the New York Apartment Association, a membership organization created last year through the merger of the Rent Stabilization Association and the Community Housing Improvement Program. NYAA serves as the interest group for multifamily residential owners in New York and actively lobbies the mayoral administration and the Rent Guidelines Board, which determines rent increases for the city's roughly one million regulated apartments.
The plan makes NYAA the single largest donor on behalf of Cuomo in the race so far. Another pro-Cuomo super PAC, Fix the City, has raised nearly $11 million, with much of the total coming from real estate interests. Its single largest contribution was $1 million from food delivery company DoorDash.
'Wow. They say they don't have any money!' Mamdani said, laughing, when asked about the Apartment Association's spending — referring to the organization's advocacy for rent increases it says are necessary to fund the upkeep of buildings and apartments.
'I would expect nothing less from a group that represents the landlords of those rent-stabilized units. Because ultimately, I'm running to freeze the rent, he's running to raise it,' Mamdani said, referring to Cuomo. 'So from their perspective, this is the candidate, rightfully, they've assessed, who will continue to increase their profits. I'm the one that is running for the tenants in those same units.'
Cuomo campaign spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said the campaign wasn't aware of the spend and referred POLITICO to Cuomo's comments at the debate Wednesday, after Mamdani said the former governor would be compromised by DoorDash's donations.
I work 'for the people of the city of New York,' Cuomo said. 'I don't care who gave me what. I do what is right.'
The city's real estate industry has lined up behind Cuomo, though with some reluctance, POLITICO reported. Burgos praised Cuomo on the NYAA's podcast this week for his housing plan to build or preserve 500,000 units in the next decade by focusing on upzoning denser, transit-rich neighborhoods. And he criticized Mamdani for his plan to build 200,000 units of social housing with union labor, saying he was being unrealistic about how much it would cost.
Burgos also slammed Mamdani — his high school classmate at Bronx Science — for leading the charge on a rent freeze. 'Our estimates are that roughly 5,000 rent-stabilized buildings, housing more than a quarter of rent-stabilized tenants, are functionally bankrupt,' he said. 'A rent freeze would all but guarantee the demise of this housing stock.'
The Rent Guidelines Board, whose members are appointed by the mayor, has proposed a rent increase between 1.75 and 4.75 percent for one-year leases and will take a final vote on the proposal June 30. In his housing plan, Cuomo said that calling for a rent freeze is 'politically convenient,' but that landlords need 'rent increases that reflect their costs.'
NYAA's super PAC, Housing for All, previously announced plans to spend in New York City Council primaries as well, though it hasn't reported any action yet.
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