Knoxville residents have a lot to learn from New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s popular platform, which proposes practical solutions to a cost-of-living crisis that stretches from New York to Tennessee.
For example, Mamdani’s platform includes freezing rent, a short-term response to rent inflation that has been shown to prevent residents from being forced out of their homes. Two-thirds of Knox County residents think housing affordability is a “very/fairly big problem,” and the gap between incomes and home prices in Knoxville has increased 45% in five years. A rent freeze could help turn this around.
Mamdani’s platform also proposes no-cost child care. In 2024 in Tennessee, infant center-based child care was more expensive than in-state tuition at UTK, forcing many parents to forgo employment and putting their children’s health at risk. Research shows that affordable child care is one of the most worthwhile investments we can make in our economy…