In his social media-driven marketing campaign, Mayor Zohran Mamdani promised to remake metropolis authorities. Fifty days in as of Thursday, he has made some early inroads — however now he finds himself coping with the a part of the job each New York mayor is aware of: a multibillion-dollar finances hole, exhausting calls on homelessness, and a push for extra funding from Albany.
Mamdani was sworn in simply after midnight on New Yr’s Day, turning into the primary Muslim and first South Asian mayor in New York Metropolis’s historical past and promising to pursue an aggressive financial program to make town extra reasonably priced. He introduced in a big inflow of left-wing colleagues, together with many alums of the de Blasio administration. Some rapidly turned topics of controversy for previous offensive posts, together with one staffer whose feedback have been deemed antisemitic.
Mamdani, nonetheless, retained Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, former Mayor Eric Adams’ final prime cop, who oversaw a record-setting crime drop final 12 months that the brand new mayor hopes to proceed all through 2026.
Throughout his first two weeks, the brand new mayor issued govt orders concentrating on prices confronted by small companies and commenced what his administration described as an enforcement “blitz” towards corporations accused of exploiting staff. One order required metropolis companies to stock fines and charges imposed on small companies, whereas one other mandated the appointment of “chief savings officers” to establish waste and streamline providers as he confronted a multibillion-dollar finances hole.
On the similar time, Mamdani took steps on public providers and infrastructure, full a number of stalled bus and bike initiatives, and reaffirm town’s sanctuary insurance policies amid federal strain over immigration enforcement.
However then got here the exhausting actuality of an enormous finances hole.
Financial savings measures and optimistic Wall Road bonus projections lowered the deficit from $12 billion to $7 billion. A $1.5 billion increase in help from Albany, courtesy of Gov. Kathy Hochul, shrunk the hole even additional — to $5.4 billion.
Within the closing stretch of his first 50 days, Mamdani unveiled a $127 billion preliminary finances — $9 billion greater than the present finances. To shut the prevailing deficit, he proposed two paths: win approval from Albany for increased taxes on high-income earners and companies, or — if that fails — depend on city-controlled instruments, together with a 9.5% property tax improve and using reserves. He characterised the property tax hike as a “last resort.”
However neither path appears more likely to occur. Gov. Kathy Hochul has adamantly opposed any new taxes as she seeks re-election this 12 months. Metropolis Council Speaker Julie Menin additionally mentioned new property taxes are a nonstarter.
Mamdani has but to disclose what town would do and not using a property tax or rich tax improve.
Mayor Mamdani and his spouse Rama Duwaji left their Astoria residence and moved into their new residence on the Higher East Facet, Gracie Mansion, on Jan. 12.Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
A silver lining in a brutal preliminary finances?
The proposal drew instant backlash from throughout town’s political spectrum. But Andrew Rein, president of the Residents Finances Fee, mentioned the extra vital improvement on Tuesday could have been one thing much less headline-grabbing: transparency.
“One of the things he did yesterday, and I don’t think it should get short shrift, was he basically fixed the under-budgeting that was rampant over the last four years,” Rein advised amNY on Wednesday.
Rein was referring to recurring prices — together with housing vouchers, police additional time and shelter providers — that he mentioned had not been absolutely mirrored in prior monetary plans. By absolutely accounting for the anticipated spending on current packages, Rein mentioned, the administration made clear the dimensions of the fiscal downside.
Nonetheless, Rein rejected the mayor’s framing of the finances debate as a alternative between elevating revenue taxes or elevating property taxes.
“My initial thought was, it’s not A or B — the best choice is C,” Rein mentioned. “The best choice is S for savings and E for efficiency.”
Mamdani’s preliminary finances, although $9 billion bigger, signifies roughly $1 billion in financial savings initiatives, supported by his chief financial savings officers throughout metropolis companies. Rein known as {that a} “first step,” however mentioned it ought to be way more bold.
Rein argued that nobody has systematically dug into metropolis companies “in a very long time” to establish unproductive packages and inefficiencies. He pointed to the expansion of metropolis spending over the previous decade and mentioned stronger administration — together with higher use of know-how and eliminating pointless forms — may each enhance providers and stabilize funds.
“This is not just a budget strategy. It has to be a management strategy,” Rein mentioned.
On Day 15, the Mamdani administration started a crackdown on app-based supply corporations, submitting a lawsuit towards supply platform Motoclick and its CEO, whereas warning dozens of different corporations to adjust to sweeping employee safety lawsPhoto by Lloyd Mitchell
For Rein, the present second, simply 50 days in, presents a check that connects on to Mamdani’s governing philosophy. If the mayor believes deeply within the energy of presidency to enhance folks’s lives, he mentioned, then efficient administration turns into central.
“As committed as he is to government improving people’s lives, who better than someone with that deep commitment to actually manage the government well?” Rein mentioned of the Democratic Socialist mayor.
Rein additionally cautioned towards turning to tax will increase – each on properties and town’s wealthy and companies – too rapidly, arguing that increased taxes may make town much less engaging to rich residents and companies, who contribute considerably to the tax base and job progress. As an alternative, he mentioned, the administration ought to exhaust effectivity measures earlier than asking New Yorkers “to dig deeper into their pockets.”
On the similar time, Rein pointed to early cooperation between Mamdani and Hochul as a optimistic signal, noting the state’s help in serving to shut a part of town’s finances hole and joint efforts on priorities similar to little one care.
Housing: Lease freeze momentum, systemic pressure, and the issue of provide
If Mayor Mamdani’s first 50 days have been marked by fiscal reckoning, they’ve additionally been outlined by a pointy pivot in Metropolis Corridor towards tenant protections and housing affordability — at the same time as structural constraints put limits on what could be achieved rapidly.
A signature plank of Mamdani’s marketing campaign was a lease freeze for town’s practically a million rent-stabilized flats — roughly 28% of town’s housing inventory. On day 49, the administration moved a step nearer to that purpose by appointing a brand new majority to town’s nine-member Lease Pointers Board — the unbiased panel that determines permissible lease adjustments.
With six seats now crammed by his choices, the mayor is positioned forward of the board’s June vote on lease changes for leases starting Oct. 1, 2026. Tenant advocates rapidly hailed the transfer as progress towards a freeze and have pledged a big turnout at upcoming hearings, urging a 0% adjustment. Landlord teams, nonetheless, warn {that a} freeze may worsen fiscal misery for rent-regulated buildings, improve rents for different tenants, and have raised authorized issues about political affect on an unbiased board.
For Professor David Reiss, a Cornell College housing skilled and former chair of the Lease Pointers Board, the mayor’s housing orientation to date is unmistakably pro-tenant, but it surely additionally underscores deeper challenges.
On day 33, Mayor Mamdani introduced on the David N. Dinkins Manhattan Municipal Constructing that cupola might be redesigned and that guided excursions will start in the summertime of 2026.Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
“He’s clearly pro-tenant,” Reiss mentioned, noting Mamdani’s rhetoric, appointments, and actions similar to launching his rental rip-off hearings and the revival of the Mayor’s workplace to guard tenants. However he cautioned that short-term insurance policies aimed toward controlling tenants’ prices should additionally account for the long-term viability of the housing inventory.
“Are you pro-tenants five years, 10 years, 15 years down the line?” Reiss requested, pointing to the danger that buildings with constrained income may wrestle to cowl unavoidable bills like property tax, insurance coverage, and mortgage funds with out significant engagement.
Reiss traced a lot of this strain to state lease restrictions, which eradicated a number of mechanisms that beforehand allowed landlords to lift rents between tenancies. Underneath present circumstances, he mentioned, the annual RGB changes are sometimes the one permissible lease will increase, which, in recent times, have been modest within the view of landlord teams.
If rents are capped or frozen, his view is that town can have only a few instruments to make sure monetary stability with out subsidies or value reductions — whether or not direct (monetary help) or oblique (tax reduction or lowered working prices).
“You have very few tools,” he mentioned. “They usually involve somehow reducing costs directly or indirectly, or increasing income by subsidizing,” Reiss mentioned that any significant method should take into account how town allocates restricted funds, particularly within the face of a finances hole that has already pushed the administration to think about wet day funds and reserve drawdowns elsewhere.
That stress between instant affordability and long-range well being of the housing inventory frames a lot of the present coverage dialog. Reiss mentioned the lease freeze itself — assuming it survives authorized and procedural hurdles — would characterize a big political success if delivered, on condition that it was a core marketing campaign pledge. However he confused {that a} broader housing technique should additionally be sure that rent-regulated buildings can cowl ongoing prices with out descending into default or neglect.
“Success for the Mamdani administration,” Reiss mentioned, “is to thread the needle between his expressed statement of reducing rent increases or rent freeze on the one hand, but ensuring that the housing stock has enough income to support itself — not just for this year, but for three years, five years, seven years down the line.”
Homelessness: Compassion, coverage reversal, and an unfinished technique
If housing coverage in Mamdani’s first 50 days displays an effort to shift energy towards tenants inside current constraints, homelessness coverage has uncovered the strain between early marketing campaign commitments and the fiscal and political realities of governing.
For Dave Giffen, govt director of the Coalition for the Homeless, the opening days of the Mamdani administration introduced real optimism. He pointed to the mayor’s pledge to halt town’s authorized problem to increasing CityFHEPS vouchers and to finish homeless encampment sweeps — strikes that aligned carefully with long-standing calls for from advocates.
“I was elated,” Giffen mentioned of these early alerts.
Fifty days in, nonetheless, Giffen mentioned that optimism has been tempered by coverage reversals and by what he described because the absence of a transparent, complete technique to handle what he repeatedly known as “mass homelessness” in New York Metropolis.
He mentioned that the technique will not be but evident within the administration’s preliminary finances or in its public plans, and he cited restricted communication with advocates, together with concerning a legally required plan to deliver town again into compliance with the right-to-shelter mandate.
These issues intensified following the administration’s resolution to restart encampment sweeps on Wednesday, albeit beneath a revised framework led by the Division of Homeless Providers somewhat than the NYPD. Giffen acknowledged that shifting away from police-led enforcement marks an enchancment over the prior administration, which he characterised as counting on criminalization and displacement.
Nonetheless, he mentioned the transfer underscores what he views as a lacking center: a reputable pathway from avenue homelessness to everlasting housing.
“There is nobody in New York that thinks it’s a good outcome to have lots of people sleeping outside in encampments,” Giffen mentioned. “But the approach should be about offering people what they actually need and have been asking for — a pathway into permanent housing — and, in the meantime, alternatives to congregate shelters.”
Mayor Mamdani on the OEM HQ: By late January, the brand new mayor was going through his first actual check as a brutal chilly snap and winter storm swept town. The administration rolled out expanded Code Blue shelter operations, scrambled to get colleges again open, and pushed out public-awareness alerts, all as studies of cold-related deaths put strain on Metropolis HallPhoto by Lloyd Mitchell
Giffen contrasted the restart of sweeps with the administration’s response to the latest cold-weather emergency, which he described as extra compassionate and simpler than previous approaches. Town reported that 18 folks died in that emergency.
Throughout that interval, town expanded outreach, deployed a whole lot of staff, and made larger use of protected haven and single-room shelter choices — settings that Giffen mentioned many unhoused New Yorkers view as providing larger dignity, security, and privateness.
He additionally argued that the pause on encampment sweeps earlier than the chilly snap helped outreach staff construct belief with folks residing on the streets.
“When city workers show up and throw away all of the belongings of somebody who’s surviving out on the streets, that creates a real feeling of distrust,” he mentioned, including that outreach was simpler when folks didn’t concern enforcement.
On funding, Giffen was blunt concerning the administration’s resolution to not develop CityFHEPS at this stage, calling the voucher program town’s simplest software for lowering homelessness — and warning that with out enlargement, there isn’t any different plan able to meaningfully lowering the disaster within the close to time period.
That critique was echoed by Win, one of many metropolis’s largest suppliers of providers to homeless households. In a press release responding to the preliminary finances, Win President and CEO Christine C. Quinn mentioned the administration’s proposed $1.64 billion allocation for CityFHEPS covers present utilization however falls wanting funding expansions handed by the Metropolis Council in 2023.
“While committing $1.64 billion for CityFHEPS is appropriate and appreciated for current levels of implementation,” Quinn mentioned, “this figure fails to cover critical CityFHEPS expansions during the worst affordability crisis in modern history.”
Win just lately launched a report estimating that absolutely implementing CityFHEPS expansions may save town as much as $635 million in shelter prices over 5 years. Quinn warned that with out these expansions, investments elsewhere — together with in little one care, which the group praised — danger being undermined.
Each Giffen and Quinn emphasised that the Mamdani administration nonetheless has a possibility to alter course — however provided that it meaningfully contains advocates, service suppliers, and folks with lived expertise of homelessness in shaping coverage.
“This is no longer just a political campaign,” Giffen mentioned. “This is governing one of the biggest and most complex cities on the planet.”
