The events will be a chance for public housing residents—some of whom felt left out by Mamdani’s earlier ‘Rental Ripoff’ hearings—to provide direct feedback and share concerns with city leaders.
Earlier this spring, Mayor Zohran Mamdani asked the city’s tenants to show up to a series of public events—dubbed the “Rental Ripoff” hearings—and share their bad landlord and rental horror stories with city officials.
But some said the initiative overlooked a key tenant constituency: the more than 500,000 New Yorkers whose landlord is NYCHA, which the mayor has direct control over. While NYCHA reps were on hand at the hearings to provide information to attendees, administration officials acknowledged the events were primarily geared to tenants in privately-owned apartments, and pledged to find other ways to engage with people in public housing.
On Friday, Mamdani announced the first of those efforts: three upcoming forums where NYCHA residents will have a chance to sit down and share their feedback directly with city leaders. The first is next Thursday, May 20 in the Bronx, and the remaining two will take place in June in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Advanced registration is required and space is limited, officials noted…