{"id":332499,"date":"2025-10-25T22:44:21","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T22:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/332499\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T22:44:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T22:44:21","slug":"whose-new-york-is-it-the-affordability-question-in-the-mayoral-race-exposes-deep-fault-lines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/332499\/","title":{"rendered":"Whose New York is it? The ‘affordability’ question in the mayoral race exposes deep fault lines"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nakeeta Wills pieces together what she can to afford staying in New York City<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A health insurance advisor, Wills relies on a local garden and food pantries to help pay for groceries<\/a>. Grandparents and \u201cloving aunties\u201d help pay for her 10-year-old son playing violin. Wills took out student loans for a master\u2019s program in business and owes at least $100,000.<\/p>\n

Her rent is somewhat reasonable \u2014 by New York standards. She pays $1,300 per month for an apartment in Central Harlem, but her son is getting older and bigger. She thinks she\u2019ll need more amenities as she ages too, like a doorman or perhaps an elevator.<\/p>\n

\"NakeetaNakeeta Wills relies on a local garden to help afford groceries. (Photo courtesy of Nakeeta Wills)<\/p>\n

Wills checks the city\u2019s affordable housing portal<\/a> every day, but she doesn\u2019t qualify for many of the units on the site \u2014 even though the high cost of living in Manhattan feels out of reach, and her income barely lets her scrape by. She\u2019s even considered leaving the city<\/a> \u2014 for upstate, Maryland or the South \u2014 but always decides to stay.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no real middle ground for somebody who makes the $50K in New York,\u201d Wills said. \u201cThere\u2019s just like, nothing here. Can\u2019t do nothing. I can\u2019t apply for no program.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI should be able to live comfortably here, and any candidate that supports [that] would definitely get my vote. I\u2019m not here looking for a handout. I am no stranger to hard work,\u201d she added, saying people shouldn\u2019t need to \u201chave nothing\u00a0in order to get some type of support.\u201d<\/p>\n

The challenge Wills and other New Yorkers face has propelled the issue of affordability into the forefront of this year\u2019s mayoral election. If crime and post-Covid recovery were top of mind for voters four years ago, the 2025 election has become a referendum on a more fundamental question:<\/p>\n

\"DemocraticDemocratic mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani during an Upper West Side press conference on Tuesday. (Cayla Bamberger \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Can New York can work for anyone but the super wealthy?<\/p>\n

With early voting starting this weekend<\/a> and candidates making their final pitches to voters, many New Yorkers are preparing to cast their ballots based in part on who they think would do the best job of tackling an unprecedented affordability crisis \u2014 in which rent has reached record highs, and the annual cost of child care<\/a> is over $20,000.<\/p>\n

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic frontrunner, has positioned himself as the affordability candidate, running on a platform that includes rent freezes and free daycare. His focus on pocketbook issues was widely credited for his upset victory over Andrew Cuomo<\/a>, the former governor, in the primary, and has shaped the contours of the race as it nears its conclusion.<\/p>\n

Cuomo and GOP candidate Curtis Sliwa have taken note, with each pushing affordability platforms of their own, particularly on housing.<\/p>\n

More than 21% of the city\u2019s likely voters said last month affordability was the most important issue<\/a> that will affect their vote, followed by crime and the economy or jobs, according to a poll from Suffolk University CityView.<\/p>\n

Child care, rent emerge as key issues<\/p>\n

Skye Monson, 40, is among those voters. A floral designer at an event design and production company, she lives with her fianc\u00e9, a musician and small business owner, and their toddler in a 1-bedroom apartment in Red Hook. They all share a Queen-size bed, as the cost of living continues to rise.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just seems to be going up and up and up,\u201d Monson said.<\/p>\n

The couple pays $2,850 per month for rent, which is about the same as when they moved in a few years ago. But utilities have skyrocketed<\/a>, with their monthly bill now easily surpassing $300 per month. For child care, they drop-off their 18-month-old son at his daycare the least number of days each week they can balance with their careers \u2014 often twice \u2014 at a cost of $120 per day. They pay in two installments each month.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t afford to pay it all at the beginning of the month. It would deplete my paycheck entirely, because that\u2019s when we\u2019re paying our rent as well,\u201d said Monson, who advocates for free child care for all<\/a> with a coalition of parents called New Yorkers United for Child Care.<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer Gov. Andrew Cuomo. (Barry Williams \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s this constant calculus of how much can we really juggle? How many days can we afford this month? It\u2019s really stressful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani has assembled a new coalition of young professional and working class voters<\/a> by promising non-means-tested free child care, starting at six weeks old, as well as rent freezes for stabilized units.<\/p>\n

Cuomo, now running as an independent, is looking to shore up the city\u2019s free preschool program<\/a> for 3-year-olds, while expanding subsidies for families in poverty. The former governor has also campaigned on increasing affordable housing supply, which Mamdani says is a priority too. Sliwa, the GOP nominee, wants to focus his political capital on bringing vacant rent-stabilized units back online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Anne Perryman, a Mamdani supporter, isn\u2019t worried about herself as much as she is about the generations that will follow.<\/p>\n

When the 84-year-old moved to the Upper West Side\u2019s Lincoln Towers in 1976, she paid $475 a month in rent. Nearly half a century later, she pays $2,200 for the same two-bedroom, rent-stabilized apartment. If Perryman left, she estimated the rent would shoot up to at least $6,000 \u2014 the market rate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho can afford that?\u201d asked Perryman. \u201cNew York used to be a place where people could come and start careers, and young people could come and live here, and I had that experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perryman has worn many hats over the years as a mother, journalist, activist and CUNY staffer and serving as the president of the Lincoln Towers Tenant Association. Most recently, the retiree was photographed for a Mamdani mailer earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rent freeze that he is promising, that is one thing that he can actually do,\u201d she said, compared to some of the Democratic nominee\u2019s other plans that would require buy-in from the governor<\/a> or the City Council.<\/p>\n

Mamdani\u2019s promise to freeze the rent, though, has come under for for being unworkable, with his opponents and skeptics of the concept noting that costs for landlords will continue to climb while their income would be frozen. Pressed on that question during Wednesday\u2019s debate, Mamdani said the city could help them, though he offered no specifics.<\/p>\n

Stay or go?<\/p>\n

Though affordability became a buzzword during the mayor\u2019s race, the underlying issue has been simmering for years. Esteban Gir\u00f3n of the Crown Heights Tenant Union says it\u2019s the politicians who are finally catching up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s top of mind for a majority of New Yorkers, which is why something like the Zohran campaign has taken off the way that it has,\u201d Gir\u00f3n said.<\/p>\n

\"CurtisCurtis Sliwa. (Theodore Parisienne \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody in the political world expected it, but anybody who\u2019s paying attention in New York, just in general, understands that everybody\u2019s thinking<\/a> about this issue<\/a>. They\u2019re thinking about affordability of housing, they\u2019re thinking about their jobs and just not being able to afford to live in the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephanie Thompson, 34, is a mom, community college student and nonprofit employee. Not only has she considered leaving New York \u2014 she briefly moved out of state, until she got called for her first NYCHA apartment in Alphabet City and returned.<\/p>\n

But in the years since, Thompson, who moved to East Harlem\u2019s Taft Houses, said New York has increasingly felt like a city only for the super-wealthy.<\/p>\n

Both of her children, 16 and 8 years old, are dyslexic<\/a>, and she\u2019s paying out-of-pocket for one of them to receive tutoring services. She said movie theater ticket prices have become unattainable, and so has the food at the Shake Shack next to the park where her younger child wants to go on playdates.<\/p>\n

Many of her neighbors have jobs in the city\u2019s public schools, construction and the MTA, but they still can\u2019t afford to move out of public housing.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou either rich and you got it, or you poor and you don\u2019t. There\u2019s no in between anymore. You\u2019re either poor or you\u2019re rich \u2014 that\u2019s it. And I think at this point, I don\u2019t think middle class is anymore. I think it\u2019s done\u2026 All of my neighbors are city workers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCOVID was when it kind of punched me in the face, and I realized, like, I\u2019m literally scraping pennies together to make things work,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cHygiene products, cleaning supplies, hair products \u2014 I don\u2019t shop in my neighborhood anymore. I am beholden to Amazon. I can\u2019t afford the groceries in my neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not what it used to be. You can\u2019t own \u2014 everybody is renting. And most of the people I encounter, they live in public housing. I work with people who live in public housing. We\u2019re all here. We\u2019re stuck.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally Published: October 25, 2025 at 11:32 AM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nakeeta Wills pieces together what she can to afford staying in New York City. A health insurance advisor,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":332500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,8988,1370,405,403,8989,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,5341,80,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-332499","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-election","10":"tag-latest-headlines","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-new-york-politics","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkcity","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-nyc-mayoral-election-2025","20":"tag-politics","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115437231952156219","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}