NYC Mayoral Candidate Mamdani Seeks $70 Billion of Debt to Fund Affordable Housing

Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist polling second in New York’s Democratic mayoral primary, wants to tackle the city’s affordable-housing crisis by taking on tens of billions of dollars of debt.

Mamdani is proposing that New York borrow $70 billion over the next 10 years on top of the roughly $25 billion already targeted for affordable homes in the city’s 10-year capital plan. The city currently plans to issue $136.2 billion of bonds backed by property taxes or sales and incomes taxes to finance schools, roads, bridges and housing. Mamdani’s plan didn’t specify if he would reallocate any of that funding or add to the existing debt load.