Zohran Mamdani's first orders focus on housing and undoing Eric Adams' decisions

New York: Zohran Mamdani moved quickly on Thursday to sign a flurry of executive orders in his first day as mayor as he began to implement his agenda, including three orders aimed at protecting renters and building housing.

Shortly after his inauguration at City Hall, Mamdani visited a rent-stabilized building in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn where some residents have stopped paying rent because of their frustrations with the building's disrepair -- tiles falling off the walls, pipes rusting, cracks where cockroaches sneak in. Mamdani announced three executive orders that would boost the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants and create two task forces to accelerate housing construction.

Mamdani, a democratic socialist who ran on an affordability agenda, pledged during the campaign to freeze the rent on the city's nearly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments.

"We know we are fighting for a rent freeze, but that is not the extent of our efforts," Mamdani said. "We will also stand up for tenants, build new housing and get New Yorkers into housing faster."

Mamdani also signed an executive order revoking all orders issued by former Mayor Eric Adams after his indictment in September 2024 on federal corruption charges. He signed another to create the structure of his new administration with five deputy mayors.

Mamdani said that he revoked the orders that Adams issued after his indictment, which was later dismissed by the Trump administration, because that was when Adams lost the public's trust.

"That was a date that marked a moment when many New Yorkers decided politics held nothing for them," Mamdani said.

One of the housing task forces Mamdani created, called LIFT, for Land Inventory Fast Track, will identify city-owned land for housing by July. The other, called SPEED, or Streamlining Procedures to Expedite Equitable Development, will identify and remove barriers like permitting that slow down projects.

Mamdani announced that Cea Weaver, a tenant organizer and member of his inner circle, will serve as the director of the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants.

For some New York renters, the setting where Mamdani chose to announce his new housing initiatives -- a building with rent-stabilized units in Flatbush -- struck a chord. The building's landlord, Pinnacle Group, declared bankruptcy last year and put thousands of rent-stabilized units up for auction.

Mamdani said the city will step in to represent the interests of the tenants in the bankruptcy case. Steve Banks, the city's newly appointed chief lawyer, will lead this effort.

Tenants in the Pinnacle building at 85 Clarkson Ave. said they had complained about disrepair for years. Inside two apartments, residents showed a large pipe rusting, leaks coming from the ceiling, and cracks in the wall where they said cockroaches and mice sometimes come through.

Pinnacle did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday evening.

Cornelius Velpry, 49, a flight attendant who lives on the third floor, said he stopped paying rent in June because he felt that Pinnacle ignored the decay in his apartment. Inside his bathroom, a tile had fallen off the wall, exposing debris.

"They never fix our issues, and we wait forever to get repairs," said Velpry, who said he could not vote for Mamdani because he is not a U.S. citizen. But he was cautiously hopeful about the new mayor's promises to fight for tenants. "I like the ideas," he said. "I hope he's able to implement it."

When Mamdani was pressed on what his administration could do for Pinnacle tenants, he asked Banks to answer. Banks, a former head of the Legal Aid Society, recalled fights he was part of in the 1980s and 1990s to help families in shelters who were tied up in bankruptcy court.

"The City of New York has not lacked for tools or tactics," Mamdani said. "The City of New York has lacked for intent."

Before leaving office, Adams moved to stop or slow a rent freeze by appointing new members to the Rent Guidelines Board, which votes on whether to raise rents for stabilized apartments. Mamdani had insisted that he would be able to keep his promise by pressuring the board to freeze the rent. Under Adams' predecessor, Mayor Bill de Blasio, the board froze rents three times.

Mamdani expressed hope Thursday that he would be able to achieve the rent freeze.

"I continue to be confident that the Rent Guidelines Board will assess the landscape of tenants for rent-stabilized units across this city and find they're in dire need of relief," he said.

The more difficult goal could be another campaign pledge to build 200,000 affordable housing units over the next decade. That could help bring down rents for the millions of New Yorkers who do not live in rent-stabilized units.