Left-leaning mayoral candidates gathered in Metropolis Corridor Park to slam mayor’s race front-runner Andrew Cuomo’s file on housing as governor. Friday, April 18, 2025.
Photograph by Lloyd Mitchell
A bunch of left-leaning mayoral candidates accused Andrew Cuomo on Friday of deepening New York Metropolis’s housing disaster as governor—and warned he would prioritize rich actual property pursuits over working-class tenants if elected mayor.
The 4 New York Working Households Occasion-endorsed candidates gathered with social gathering leaders and tenant advocates in Metropolis Corridor Park on April 19 to color Cuomo — the front-runner within the mayor’s race — as “your landlord’s favorite mayoral candidate.” The candidates current included Metropolis Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie (D-Brooklyn), and Meeting Member Zohran Mamdani (D-Queens).
“Andrew Cuomo cannot give a rat’s ass about the lives or future or housing justice for every single New Yorker,” Lander stated. “He is a corrupt, abusive ego maniac who shows time and time and time again that he cares about only one thing, and that is Andrew Cuomo.”
Metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander rallying with different left-leaning mayoral candidates in opposition to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s candidacy, slamming his file on housing. Friday, April 18, 2025.Photograph by Lloyd Mitchell
The rally marked the newest effort by the mayoral hopefuls to spotlight Cuomo’s file as governor as a purpose he shouldn’t return to elected workplace. Cuomo resigned in 2021 amid a number of allegations of sexual harassment, which he denies. To date, the try to resurface his previous controversies has performed little to dent his marketing campaign—he continues to steer within the polls and rack up institutional endorsements.
NYWFP Co-Chair Ana Maria Archila argued that Cuomo’s insurance policies throughout his 11-year tenure as governor drove up rents and contributed to a surge in homelessness. She stated that below his management rents soared 33% statewide, homelessness doubled within the metropolis, and 50% of tenants within the 5 boroughs have been lease burdened—which means they spent over 30% of their revenue on lease.
“We are here to remind New Yorkers that we don’t need to settle for a person who has abused his power in office, who has neglected the needs of working families, the needs of tenants,” Archila stated. “We don’t need to settle for men that abuse their power and use our communities to get votes while using their power to deliver for the rich real estate, corporate donors.”
In response, Cuomo spokesperson Wealthy Azzopardi touted what he described as Cuomo’s “decades-long record of fighting for tenant rights” each as governor and as U.S. Secretary of Housing and City Improvement below former President Invoice Clinton, whereas dismissing his rivals’ criticisms. He particularly pointed to Cuomo’s creation of a “tenant protection unit” and his launch of a statewide initiative to finance 100,000 inexpensive housing models and 6,000 supportive housing models throughout his time as governor.
“New Yorkers know he’s the candidate with the experience and the record to help fix what’s broken in this city and they are not going to be swayed by this gaslighting from far-left political operatives and a clown car of career politicians with no vision or achievements of their own,” Azzopardi stated.
Mayoral candidates Adrienne Adams, Brad Lander, Zohran Mamdani, and Zellnor Myrie rally in opposition to fellow main mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo, blasting his file on housing. Friday, April 18, 2025.Photograph by Lloyd Mitchell
Nonetheless, Cuomo’s rivals see his file on housing in a different way.
Speaker Adams charged that Cuomo contributed to the town’s homelessness disaster by chopping thousands and thousands of {dollars} in funding for a state rental-assistance voucher program in 2011, often called the Benefit. She stated that transfer, which led to this system’s collapse, pushed greater than 16,000 New Yorkers into shelters over three years.
“When he says that he is stepping over homeless people, and somebody should do something about it, he should have done something about it when he was heading our state,” Speaker Adams stated. “He can’t fix our city if he couldn’t fix our state.”
Cuomo’s crew has pushed again on that criticism by arguing that he changed Benefit with different housing subsidy applications that have been funded at increased ranges.
Queens Meeting Member and mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani talking at a rally in Metropolis Corridor Park in opposition to front-runner Andrew Cuomo’s file on housing. Friday, April 18, 2025.Photograph by Lloyd Mitchell
Mamdani, a Democratic socialist who has been inserting second in current polls, slammed Cuomo over the $2.3 million in actual property donations that reportedly flowed into the tremendous PAC supporting his candidacy — “Fix the City.” He stated the monetary help from actual property pursuits exhibits Cuomo is “disconnected” from on a regular basis New Yorkers’ struggles with affordability, together with paying for housing.
“Ultimately, he does not have an answer for how he could fix the state that he broke,” Mamdani stated. “He does not have an answer for how he could make the city more affordable when he has worked arm-in-arm with those who have made millions from inequality.”
