Mamdani Launches Insurance Program for Affordable Housing Landlords

Mayor Zohran Mamdani isn’t unsympathetic to the plight of property owners in the rent-stabilized housing sector, as he launched Thursday a program to bring down costs for the distressed asset class.

The program aims to identify potential partner organizations for an insurance program serving affordable housing and rent-stabilized landlords that will provide policies at a reduced cost, covering 20,000 homes by next year and 100,000 homes by 2030.

New York City’s Economic Development Corporation, Housing Development Corporation and Housing Preservation and Development have formed a working group that will develop relationships with insurance providers for the program, according to Mamdani.

“We cannot take on the housing crisis without confronting one of the fastest-growing costs facing New Yorkers: insurance,” Mamdani said in a statement. “That’s why we’re creating the first city-backed insurance program — to help New Yorkers stay in their homes, give building owners the support they need to make repairs, and build a city that New Yorkers can actually afford.”

The price of insurance for housing has tripled since 2017, according to the administration, adding another burden for landlords who own rent-stabilized buildings and who were affected by the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019, which outlawed raising rents on vacated units to cover the costs of repairs and renovation.

The state legislation was signed into law by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo — and stood as a strike against him as a candidate by the real estate industry in his unsuccessful 2025 mayoral campaign — in order to prevent rent-stabilized units from hitting market-rate. However, the legislation ultimately caused affordable housing to degenerate as cash-strapped landlords were left without liquidity to make them more livable.

The new program could also drive down costs for the city itself, which has struggled to produce more housing.

The effort even received a rare nod from the city’s most influential real estate association, the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY).

“We appreciate the mayor’s recognition that rent‑regulated apartments carry significant and growing costs to operate,” Basha Gerhards, executive vice president of public policy at REBNY, said in a statement. “Insurance, property taxes and utilities are exponentially driving expense growth, placing sustained pressure on owners and operators of regulated housing.”

Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.