New York, US:
When New York Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani took to the podium earlier this year to call for a “total rent freeze” across the state, he struck a chord with thousands of renters burdened by soaring housing costs. His fiery speeches, packed rallies, and viral social media clips framed him as a tenants’ champion ready to take on the real estate industry. But as enthusiasm spreads, so does a cold, legal reality: Mamdani’s rent-freeze proposal isn’t something he can legally enforce on his own — and some experts say it may not be constitutional at all.
The Roots of the Rent Freeze Plan
The idea behind Mamdani’s rent freeze is simple: stop landlords from raising rent for a defined period, say one or two years, while the state reevaluates its housing affordability policies. The plan appeals particularly in areas like Queens and Brooklyn, where rents have surged over 30% since 2020, leaving working-class residents on the brink of displacement.
Mamdani, a progressive Democrat representing Astoria, has long argued that the state bears moral responsibility to intervene quickly and decisively in what he calls a “manufactured housing crisis.”…