Protecting New York's Tenants

Rebuilding the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants

New York City is a majority-tenant town, yet our city government regularly lets negligent and dishonest landlords off the hook. As Mayor, Zohran Mamdani will take back our power and protect New York’s renters through the Office to Protect Tenants.

Introduction

Thousands of New York City residents live in inadequate or unsafe housing — their maintenance needs repeatedly ignored by negligent landlords. One in 10 rental units reported a lack of adequate heat last winter. One in four reported mice or rats in their homes. These are hard-working New Yorkers who deserve a safe roof over their heads.

The City is supposed to issue violations and fine landlords who fail to make repairs, but in reality our code enforcement system is broken. Tenants are forced to jump through hoops just to get violations recorded, and the City responds to slum conditions with miniscule fines—if any at all. Less than half of housing violations ever get fixed, and code enforcement officers come unpredictably and after long delays.

As Mayor, Zohran will stand up for New York’s tenants and ensure they live in safe and habitable homes. Zohran will rebuild the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants —a longstanding tool of City Hall that has been defunded and deprioritized under Mayor Adams.

Its mission under Zohran? To streamline bureaucratic boondoggles and actually enforce tenants’ rights by implementing existing housing laws to their fullest extent.

The Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants Will:

Streamline Housing Code Enforcement

Right now, at least five agencies (HPD, DOB, FDNY, DEP, DOH) are responsible for housing maintenance issues. Under Zohran’s administration, the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants will coordinate code enforcement under one roof—from the inspectors who come to our apartments to the lawyers who litigate in Housing Court—enabling the City’s ability to resolve issues quickly.

Fix 311 and Allow Tenants to Schedule Inspections and Track Complaint Status

Right now, when a tenant reports a code violation to 311, they get routed to one of many different agencies and, in most cases, have no ability to track when inspectors are coming. We will enable tenants to schedule an appointment with an inspector and receive reminders over text. We will also create one website—a centralized and user-friendly portal—where tenants and inspectors can track all violations and fines owed in a building.

Increase Fines for Dangerous Living Conditions

The problems tenants deal with every day need to become real problems for landlords, too. We will double the fines for hazardous violations (cracks in the walls, broken windows, water damage, roaches, and defective locks) and triple fines for immediately hazardous violations (vermin, heat and hot water, lead paint). Most importantly, we will ensure fines are actually collected, which will bring at least $800M immediately owed back to the city and generate hundreds of millions more each year.

Force Landlords to Take Extreme Heat Seriously

New Yorkers are at risk of extreme heat as our planet warms. We will update the Housing Maintenance Code to meet the needs of the city in 2025 and make it a Class C violation to fail to provide adequately cool apartments during the summer months. We will require building owners to maintain a maximum indoor temperature of 78°F when the outdoor temperature is 82°F or higher. We will also install heat sensors in buildings with repeated heat violations.

Expand the Scope, Funding, and Staffing of City’s Enforcement Programs

Zohran’s administration will hire more public servants to do the critical work of enforcing the housing maintenance code, building code, fire code, and environmental standards, health standards, and more. This means more dedicated inspectors, lawyers, data analysts, tenant helpline staffers, and outreach specialists.

Crack Down on Repeat-Offending Landlords

Zohran will double the size of the Alternative Enforcement Program and expand the Office of Special Enforcement, so repeat offenders are finally held accountable through higher fines. He will also restore funding to the Anti-Harassment Tenant Protection program which supports at-risk tenants in bringing affirmative cases against their negligent landlords without risk of abuse. Under Mayor Adams, $25 million has been cut from this program over the last three years.

Guarantee Repairs

If tenants are still facing issues after repeated complaints, the City will ensure the buck stops with them. Under current but underutilized law, the City has the power to complete repairs and bill the landlord. Zohran will use the law when necessary, so no tenant lives in unsafe, poor-quality housing.

A Zero-Tolerance Policy Towards Bad Landlords

When a restaurant serves unsafe food, the Health Department shuts it down. Yet too many bad landlords are allowed to stay in business, ripping off tenants and placing them in unsafe conditions.

Under Zohran’s administration, landlords who do not work with the Office to Protect Tenants and repeatedly put New Yorkers at risk will not be allowed to operate in New York City — with no exceptions. We’ll prioritize the preservation of distressed rental housing by publicly stewarding buildings in disrepair. Working with tenants on a case-by-case basis, we will determine the best management solution of the buildings while retaining public ownership of the land.

For over 30 years, the City has successfully pursued public stewardship of distressed buildings and built thousands of units of deeply affordable housing—but the practice stopped in recent years. Under Neighborhood Pillars—a program created by Mayor de Blasio in 2018—the City can work with tenants’ associations and community partners to finance the purchase and renovation of poor quality housing. The program’s funding was fully cut under Mayor Adams, however, until the New York City Council secured a $1 billion commitment to the program in 2024. We will fully fund Neighborhood Pillars at the level secured by City Council and unlock the City’s full power to improve our neighborhoods and the health of our communities. This could mean the preservation of at least 20,000 homes over the next 10 years.