Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s collection of “rental ripoff hearings” kicked off Thursday night in Downtown Brooklyn, the place tenants have been invited to share tales about deteriorating situations, hidden charges, and landlord retaliation — testimony the administration says will immediately form new housing coverage.
The hearings, created underneath an govt order signed throughout Mamdani’s first day in workplace, are scheduled to happen throughout the 5 boroughs throughout his first 100 days.
Cea Weaver, who heads the Mayor’s revitalized Workplace to Shield Tenants, opened the night by explaining how the hearings would work and what the administration hoped to be taught.
Tenants would ship timed testimony on to company leaders, and their accounts could be compiled into suggestions anticipated inside 90 days.
After her presentation, Weaver instructed reporters that the purpose was to grasp each particular person experiences and broader patterns — from building-level neglect to systemic enforcement gaps.
The hearings, she mentioned, are supposed to give tenants a “direct platform to share their experiences with bad landlords” and assist drive the town’s code enforcement coverage.
Division of Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani additionally spoke with reporters as tenants continued to file in. He emphasised that the town works with landlords in addition to tenants, noting there are landlords “trying to do the right thing,” and that companies commonly have interaction with commerce organizations and property homeowners.
On the similar time, he mentioned the hearings would assist determine what further instruments or assets could also be wanted for enforcement.
Cea Weaver delivers her opening remarks inside George Westinghouse Excessive College, clearing up confusion about how NYCHA tenants may testify and setting the stage for the town’s first “Rental Ripoff Hearing.”Photograph by Adam Daly
Lengthy earlier than Thursday’s first session started, landlord teams had been pushing again towards the format.
Ann Korchak, board president of the Small Property House owners of New York (SPONY), known as the hearings “nothing more than City Hall-sponsored, anti-landlord events.”
“The name of these hearings evokes an adversarial pitch,” Korchak mentioned in a press release earlier than the session. “Housing works best when all parties are pulling in the same direction, but the Mayor is intent on demonizing owners and spreading divisiveness.”
Korchak additionally accused the administration of “stacking the deck” with Lease Tips Board (RGB) appointees and claimed the hearings have been a part of a broader effort to maneuver towards “socialized housing.”
Mamdani final week appointed 5 new members and reappointed one to the town’s RGB — a transfer that offers his picks a majority on the panel and strikes him one step nearer to enacting the lease freeze he promised whereas campaigning final 12 months.
NYCHA confusion
Thursday’s occasion at George Westinghouse Excessive College was structured extra like a managed consumption session than a standard public listening to.
Tenants registered upfront and signed up for three-minute, one-on-one conferences with senior metropolis officers. Across the gymnasium, company employees stood beside poster boards outlining coverage areas underneath overview and invited public enter on subjects similar to housing high quality and code enforcement; abusive landlord practices and retaliation; and hidden or misleading charges.
A useful resource honest additionally offered data on submitting complaints and accessing authorized assist.
In line with metropolis officers, 450 individuals signed up for the primary two back-to-back Brooklyn periods.
The Mayor’s Workplace to Shield Tenants — reestablished by Mamdani on his first day in workplace — led the hassle alongside the Division of Housing Preservation and Growth, the Division of Shopper and Employee Safety, the Workplace of Mass Engagement, and the Division of Buildings.
Earlier than doorways opened, greater than 50 tenants rallied on the varsity steps, calling for stronger enforcement, an finish to landlord self-certification of repairs, and a lease freeze.
However for some, their frustration centered on whether or not the half 1,000,000 residents of the New York Metropolis Housing Authority would have a significant platform on the hearings, stemming, officers mentioned, from deceptive media experiences. It was reiterated all through the occasion that NYCHA tenants are permitted to register and take part within the one-on-one periods.
Earlier than the session started, Naomi Colon, vice chairman of the Marcy Homes Resident Affiliation, was amongst those that have been involved that she was being sidelined. She and her fellow residents got here ready to protest with indicators.
Talking to amNY, Colon mentioned residents in her growth are coping with deteriorating residences and gradual repairs.
“A lot of the residents are complaining the rent is very high, and the service is very low,” Colon mentioned. “The apartments are breaking down. We need help with that. We need a lot of help with that.”
Requested how she felt about Mamdani’s election and the hearings, Colon mentioned she was hopeful regardless of the preliminary confusion.
“If he can help us, we will be grateful,” she mentioned. “We will be grateful, and we will appreciate anything that the mayor can do to help all the residents in public housing.”
A masked NYCHA tenant storms the stage throughout the listening to, demanding that public housing residents be heard.Photograph by Adam Daly 
Cea Weaver and different metropolis officers transfer to escort the girl to a close-by sign-up desk, directing her to register for one-on-one testimony with company leaders.Photograph by Adam Daly
Inside, Weaver clarified throughout her opening remarks that NYCHA residents have been eligible for a similar one-on-one periods as different tenants and that NYCHA representatives have been current on the useful resource honest.
Regardless of that clarification, a lady carrying a masks of President Donald Trump stormed the stage shortly after Weaver concluded her presentation. She demanded that NYCHA tenants be heard, utilizing a number of express phrases as she addressed the room.
A voice came visiting the audio system informing her that, as a NYCHA tenant, she was eligible to testify. Weaver and different metropolis officers rushed to the stage to additional clarify the place she may enroll.
‘We went on a rent strike’
Because the periods started, tenants moved from desk to desk for his or her timed conferences.
Jaren Forbes, a steering committee member of HOPE Tenant Union and tenant chief at her Herkimer Road constructing, used her three minutes to recount a protracted battle together with her landlord.
“Due to the deterioration of the building and neglect … we’ve seen the conditions just deteriorate over time,” Forbes mentioned. “And we also noticed that the respect from the landlord became crappy as well.”
In 2022, Forbes and her neighbors launched a lease strike to push for repairs. After authorized proceedings and stalled negotiations, tenants escalated in March 2025 by organizing outdoors their landlord’s workplace in Nice Neck, Lengthy Island. Days later, she mentioned, they reached a settlement and at the moment are within the restore part.
Jaren Forbes provides her response to a poster board asking, “What’s been your experience organizing with your neighbors?”Photograph by Adam Daly
On the listening to, she advocated for adjustments to the owner inspection system. Her suggestion to the administration known as for making a reserving system that might enable tenants to schedule inspections.
“There are times when inspectors are actually very rude,” Forbes mentioned, calling for the scheduling system so inspectors don’t “just pop up” and for extra sensitivity coaching.
“I have a realistic view that things can go in either direction,” she added. “I am hopeful for the positive.”
A face-to-face with the tenant chief
Joshua Rodrigues shares his story with CEA Weaver throughout the first “Rental Ripoff Hearing,” Downtown Brooklyn, February 26, 2026.Photograph by Adam Daly
Joshua Rodigues, a lifelong Pink Hook resident, mentioned the corporate that bought his constructing roughly three years in the past has repeatedly contacted tenants about transferring out whereas failing to deal with repairs.
“I’ve been fighting my landlord for the past year and a half,” Rodigues instructed amNY.
Throughout his session, Rodigues sat down immediately with Weaver.
“I didn’t expect to speak to anybody,” he mentioned after his one-on-one session, noting that he thought from the occasion description that it could be an open mic format – although he was not complaining.
Regardless of the direct entry, he mentioned he stays cautious about whether or not situations will change after years of feeling unheard. “I’m skeptical, but hopeful.”
Kelly Cook dinner, who lives in a rent-stabilized constructing in Crown Heights, confirmed as much as testify with the hopes that her voice may result in significant change in her neighborhood, slightly than instant fixes.
“Between 2016 and 2017 … they upped the rent illegally by 128% at the time,” she mentioned, including that the work cited would have amounted to greater than $75,000 per condominium in models underneath 1,000 sq. ft.
Cook dinner described drafty home windows and leaky pipes that she mentioned have been imagined to have been changed.
“We filed a rent overcharge complaint,” she mentioned, however the course of can take years.
Place a sticker by your prime 5 priorities for change: Kelly Cook dinner was among the many tenants who gave the town further suggestions on her desired end result of the hearingsPhoto by Adam Daly
She mentioned she worries not nearly her personal condominium however about others in her neighborhood.
“I live in a neighborhood with people that don’t have that same ability,” she mentioned. “They’ve lived there their entire lives. They do not deserve to be priced out of their neighborhoods.”
Whether or not the tales shared on Thursday will translate into enforcement adjustments or new protections stays to be seen. However for tenants like Forbes, Rodigues, Cook dinner, and Colon, the listening to marked not less than a second of being heard.
“I’m hopeful,” Forbes mentioned. “I’m just hoping that this sets the tone going forward.”
Extra hearings are anticipated in different boroughs within the coming weeks, with periods in Lengthy Island Metropolis on March 5; Fordham within the Bronx on March 11; East Harlem on March 28; and Staten Island’s North Shore on April 7, every providing a number of time slots for tenants to testify.
