Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who lost the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City to Zohran Mamdani by significant margins and is now contesting as an independent, is second in the race to clinch the mayor\u2019s title in the largest city in the United States.<\/p>\n
Mamdani won on a message of affordability, but Cuomo has slammed his plans<\/a> as extreme and not feasible. Al Jazeera did an analysis of Cuomo\u2019s economic policies to see what he has to offer for New Yorkers.<\/p>\n Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listHousing<\/p>\n Cuomo \u2013 who only moved into New York City in September 2024 after living in Westchester, a suburban community north of the city \u2013 has promised to build over the next decade half a million new apartments, two-thirds of which will be \u201caffordable\u201d. The plan offers tax incentives to private developers to build more residential developments. It also says it will loosen zoning laws to promote office-to-residential conversions.<\/p>\n However, much of what he\u2019s touting is already city policy.<\/p>\n New York launched an office-to-housing programme in 2020 under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, followed by reforms last year to speed up conversions under incumbent Eric Adams.<\/p>\n According to a report from City Comptroller Brad Lander, who also ran in the primaries but has since endorsed Mamdani, those initiatives have already produced 44 conversions. Projects finished or under way are expected to create as many as 17,400 units citywide \u2013 mostly studios and one-bedroom apartments \u2013 including one of the largest office-to-housing conversions in the country in Lower Manhattan.<\/p>\n Cuomo\u2019s plan to expand housing options across the city also taps into publicly owned land, including vacant lots, to allow for development of new housing and mixed-use development \u2013 the same as both other leading candidates, Mamdani, a former State Assembly member, and Adams.<\/p>\n Cuomo wants to pump $2.5bn into public housing over the next five years, which would be a 75 percent increase from the city\u2019s current funding. For housing protections, he wants to add more lawyers in the city\u2019s housing court system to help renters with issues like tenant harassment and unlawful eviction and provide more housing vouchers to help address homelessness.<\/p>\n However, Cuomo\u2019s history says otherwise. When he was governor, he pushed the state to cut funding for a rental voucher programme called Advantage. The cuts from Albany, the state capital, left City Hall no choice but to cut the programme altogether.<\/p>\n One of the few new ideas from Cuomo, who has been US secretary of housing and urban development in the past, is called \u201cZohran\u2019s Law\u201d, a jab at the most likely next mayor of New York. The new law would put in place income limits on those who are seeking rent-stabilised apartments across the city, which account for about half of the rental housing stock.<\/p>\n Cuomo said the law would not penalise those who see their incomes increase while already living in a rent-stabilised unit.<\/p>\n New York City\u2019s rent-stabilisation programme was never designed with certain income levels in mind. It was intended to regulate the broader housing market and protect residents from rent price surges that market-rate apartments face in times of housing scarcity.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that\u2019s been the playbook all along, kind of pick a fight, steal an idea, deliver less ambitiously than New Yorkers really need or deserve,\u201d Adin Lenchner, founder of the New York based political consultancy Carroll Street Campaigns told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n Transit<\/p>\n Cuomo\u2019s most ambitious proposal is to bring New York City\u2019s transit system under the control of the city itself. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which oversees subways, buses and commuter railroads, has been under state jurisdiction since the agency was created in 1968. That structure gives the governor disproportionate power over the operations of the nation\u2019s largest transit system.<\/p>\n Shifting control to City Hall would be a steep challenge because much of its funding comes from state-collected taxes and revenues. And even if it were to happen and Cuomo would want to increase the city\u2019s tax rate to pay for it, he would still need a buy-in from the governor<\/a>, who either accepts or denies the city\u2019s proposed tax rate.<\/p>\n That funding dynamic is a key reason why Mamdani\u2019s free-bus proposal has drawn scepticism. Implementing it would demand coalition-building and leverage in Albany, which critics have said are best used for other pressing issues like universal childcare.<\/p>\n As a state lawmaker, Mamdani was able to help champion a free-bus pilot programme, but expanding such an initiative citywide would be far more complicated from the mayor\u2019s office without control of the MTA, a key weakness in the Mamdani campaign that Cuomo has tried to capitalise on.<\/p>\n Cuomo, on the other hand, is not pushing for free transit quite like Mamdani but has suggested he would consider some free routes. He also said he would expand access to what is called the fair fares programme, which offers discounted rates to low-income New Yorkers.<\/p>\n Cuomo\u2019s push to claim city control of the MTA also comes with a fairly chequered political history.<\/p>\n