How Mamdani and Cea Weaver Plan to End Private Housing

Dems who endorse this guy below. Oh, I forgot the most important guy. Leon Trotsky!

National Democrats:

• Kamala Harris (former Vice President) Time

• Ken Martin (Democratic National Committee Chair) NBC News

New York State Leaders:

• Kathy Hochul (New York Governor) NPR

• Carl Heastie (New York State Assembly Speaker) Time

Congressional Representatives:

• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Moveon

• Adriano Espaillat (influential Latino leader in NYC) Time

• Jerrold Nadler Time

• Hakeem Jeffries (House Minority Leader) - endorsed in late October 2025 NBC News

Other Notable Endorsers:

• Letitia James (NY Attorney General) Moveon

• Bernie Sanders Moveon (Independent, but caucuses with Democrats)

How Mamdani and Cea Weaver Plan to End Private Housing

Their proposals would make many apartment buildings impossible to sustain. That’s by design.

By Allysia Finley, WSJ

Jan. 11, 2026 12:00 pm ET

“Uninvestable.” That’s how Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods on Friday described Venezuela under the current socialist regime. It’s also what Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his comrade Cea Weaver plan to make New York City’s housing market.

As rent restrictions drive thousands of apartment buildings across the city into disrepair and threaten a cascade of foreclosures, Mr. Mamdani has tapped Ms. Weaver to implement his goal of “decommodifying” housing. Their plan: Drive out private investors by making it impossible to turn a profit and keep properties in serviceable condition. Then the government will seize the buildings and hand them over to tenant collectives and nonprofits to manage under communal ownership.

The 37-year-old Ms. Weaver has spent her life since college graduation as a “tenant organizer.” She recently led the groups Housing Justice for All and New York State Tenant Bloc. Their stated goals: “To take back power from the real estate industry over our homes,” “expand rent control to every renter,” and build “social housing” that is “protected from market forces.”

This past fall, she taught an undergraduate course in community organizing at New York University—where the cost of attendance runs $96,988 because government subsidies protect it from market forces. The college ranks as one of the city’s biggest land owners, and it charges students $2,000 a month each to share a dorm room.

As in socialist systems, the higher-ups and insiders at colleges make out by exploiting the masses. Then, if their graduates go to work for nonprofits, much of their debt can be waived under the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

Ms. Weaver’s crowning achievement is a 2019 state law that restricts New York City landlords’ ability to pay for renovations by raising rent and does away with the ability to deregulate rent-stabilized units—which account for nearly half the city’s rental housing—when tenants move out. The law upended landlords’ investment models, slashed building values, and fueled runs at two regional banks.

Signature Bank failed in spring 2023 as depositors fled, spooked by its large exposure to the crypto industry and lending concentration in New York City’s rent-stabilized apartment buildings. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. struggled to find a buyer for Signature’s toxic $15 billion in mortgages that were backed mostly by rent-stabilized buildings.

So the FDIC turned over management of many of the buildings to a collective of nonprofits with financial backing from the New York City Employees’ Retirement System. A year after Signature’s collapse, New York Community Bancorp (now Flagstar) triggered a panic when it flagged that 14% of its $18 billion rent-regulated loan book was at risk of default.

A capital infusion by former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s investment firm stabilized the bank, but more troubles may lie ahead. Flagstar noted in its latest earnings that payments were several months past due on $2.4 billion in loans for multifamily housing. One of its biggest rent-stabilized borrowers, Pinnacle Group, filed for bankruptcy last spring.

Most of Flagstar’s multifamily mortgages mature over the next few years, at which point they will likely need to be refinanced. But as a result of the 2019 law, Flagstar warned that “the level of income generated by the property may be insufficient to qualify for refinancing at maturity.” Defaults could snowball.

Rent-stabilized buildings have been selling at steep discounts, some for less than the cost of a NYU degree. Which is worth more? Tough call. A rent-stabilized building in East Harlem this spring sold for 3% of its 2016 sales price. A city pension fund investment in rent-stabilized housing—once projected to mint eye-watering returns—has declined by 70% since the 2019 law was enacted. Taxpayers will inevitably have to backfill the losses.

Many buildings have fallen into severe disrepair because rents don’t cover rising maintenance costs, property taxes, insurance premiums, debt payments and utilities. The city pays nonprofits up to $380,000 a unit to repair dilapidated rent-stabilized apartments, which can exceed the market value of the entire buildings.

A private real-estate firm has sought to buy Pinnacle’s rent-stabilized apartments in bankruptcy for a pittance. But a city attorney tapped by Mr. Mamdani last week sought to block their sale by arguing to the judge that—get this—rent restrictions would prevent the firm from maintaining the units. Mr. Mamdani knows full well that rent restrictions produce slums. That’s the goal.

Ms. Weaver has advocated government seizure of properties that are in distress or foreclosure so that they can become socialized housing. A majority of New York’s left-wing City Council last year signed on to legislation that would empower the mayor to do so.

Never mind that the New York City Housing Authority says it requires “$78 billion in capital investment due to decades of insufficient funding and deferred maintenance.” Or that the city’s dilapidated public-housing units have 40% more maintenance deficiencies than older rent-stabilized units and 150% more than market-rate ones, according to a city analysis.

New Yorkers don’t need to fly to Caracas to see “decommodified” housing in practice. There’s a model right around the corner.