Cuomo Unveils ‘Zohran’s Law’
Cuomo Unveils ‘Zohran’s Law’ to Make Vacant Rent Stabilized Apartments Available to Those who Need Them; Keep Them Out of the Hands of the Wealthy
"They are supposed to be for New Yorkers of modest means, but far too many wealthy people are taking advantage. We must stop the Zohran Mamdanis of the world from gaming the system and boxing out lower income New Yorkers who are barely scraping by."
- Governor Andrew Cuomo
New York, NY – Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, candidate for Mayor of New York City, today announced ‘Zohran’s Law,’ a plan to protect the city’s rent-stabilized apartments from being occupied by high-income individauls, ensuring these limited, affordable units go to New Yorkers who actually need them.
Under Cuomo’s proposal, when a rent-stabilized apartment becomes vacant, the incoming individual income would be capped so that the annual rent makes up at least 30 percent of that income. For example, if an apartment rents for $2,500 a month ($30,000 per year), the new tenant’s income could not exceed $100,000.
New York City is in the grip of a housing emergency. The city does not have enough units, and the drastically low vacancy rate is driving up prices, squeezing families, and forcing many to leave in record numbers.
To address this crisis, Cuomo has announced a bold housing plan to build and preserve more than 500,000 units—two-thirds of which will be affordable to low- and moderate-income New Yorkers. The plan includes creating a $5 billion city–state affordable housing fund to help close the gap in housing development economics, bringing vacant rent-stabilized units back online, and accelerating office-to-residential conversions. By increasing the number of available units, the plan will expand affordable options for those who need them most.
Ensuring that affordable units go to those truly in need is equally critical. Yet under current law, some of these units are occupied by the well-connected or privileged. The law—named after Cuomo’s opponent, Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani—highlights the problem. Despite coming from a background of wealth, owning land in Uganda worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and earning $142,000 annually as a state legislator, Mamdani pays just $2,300 a month for a rent-stabilized apartment in Astoria. In interviews, he claims he did not realize the unit was rent stabilized when he signed the lease—despite working at the time as a housing advocate.
“New York City is in a housing crisis and we need more than slogans to solve it. We must build more housing quickly, but we also need to ensure that our rent stabilized apartments are going to the New Yorkers who need them the most,” Governor Cuomo said. “They are supposed to be for hard working men and women, but far too many rich people are taking advantage. We must stop the Zohran Mamdanis of the world from gaming the system and boxing out lower income New Yorkers who are barely scraping by and Zohran’s law will do that.”
There are approximately 1 million rent stabilized apartments in New York City, or about 40 percent of the total number of rental units. The median income of a tenant is $60,000, according to the Rent Guidelines Board. Roughly 46 percent of tenants in rent-stabilized housing and 40 percent of tenants in market rate housing have a rent burden of 30 percent of their income or greater.
The rule would apply only at the point of vacancy — not to lease renewals or tenants who qualify under succession rights. Landlords would be required to verify income using the same documentation standards already used in city-run affordable housing lotteries, minimizing bureaucracy and ensuring consistent enforcement.
This proposal builds on the important 2019 reform by the Governor that eliminated high-income vacancy decontrol—a major change that stopped units from being removed from rent regulation altogether when rents or tenant incomes crossed certain thresholds. Cuomo’s plan builds on that important reform by keeping these units in the system while making sure they are reserved for households that actually need affordable housing.
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