The state of public housing in NYC: Roaches and rats, heat that never turns on, elevators that are always out of order

By Mayor Zohran Mamdani

Fifty-two years ago, on a hot summer night, a new sound emerged from the first-floor community room at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, where we stand today. New York is where greatness so often is born. And on that August evening, greatness was born in the Bronx. The hip-hop that millions of people around the world listen to all came from this Mitchell-Lama building, where DJ Kool Herc played a new kind of music at a party he organized, so his little sister would have money to buy new clothes for school. 

That greatness was only possible because this was a city where working people could afford a home. And with it, the joy and creativity that a stable home can foster. When New Yorkers can afford a home, New Yorkers can afford to make great art. And when New Yorkers can afford a home, New Yorkers can afford to be themselves. 

But as many working people know, it is increasingly impossible to find an affordable home in New York City. To build a dignified life without earning hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. And those same New Yorkers know that too often, if they can find a home that they can afford, there is likely a reason they can afford it. Roaches and rats, heat that never turns on, elevators that are always out of order, bad landlords who take their money and yet never respond to requests for repairs. 

A dignified life does not just mean having a roof over your head. It means that you don’t feel uncomfortable or unsafe in your own home. It means that your money buys you what you paid for. It means that a bad landlord is not allowed to rip you off with impunity. 

Today, I am proud to appoint Dina Levy as my commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. My commissioner will lead with a very simple remit. Delivering affordable housing and dignity to New Yorkers. For anyone in the housing world, Dina’s reputation precedes her. Her resume alone tells a story of both service and achievement. Senior vice president of Homeownership and Community Development at the Department of Homes and Community Renewal. Senior advisor to the New York Attorney General. Director of organizing at the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board. 

There are countless tenants in this building today who still call this building home, only thanks to Dina’s advocacy. After all, the story of 1520 Sedgwick didn’t end when DJ Kool Herc played his last track. For decades, this building was a triumph of affordable housing, so beautiful that its tenants described it like a hotel. 

But when it exited Mitchell-Lama in the 2000s, its new landlord plunged it into decay and neglect, forcing immediate maintenance issues. The situation was getting worse and likely would have entered a terminal spiral, were it not for Dina. She organized the tenants, she advocated on their behalf, and when they bought the mortgage with the help of a $5.6 million loan from HPD, they reclaimed control over their own homes and their own futures. 

Dina will no longer be petitioning HPD from the outside. She will now be leading it from the inside, delivering the kind of change that can transform lives. Her leadership is the kind that New Yorkers have not known for far too long.

Leadership unafraid to confront those who have mistreated our neighbors for too long. Leadership that travels to every corner of our city to expose wrongdoing. And leadership that understands that no longer can the Bronx be a forgotten borough in this city of five. 

New Yorkers will be invited to participate (in public hearings) and to share the realities that animate their daily lives. I want these hearings to expose the ugly underbelly of our city. The rats that scurry through hallways. The children that shiver in their beds in the dead of winter because the heat is off. The fees imposed on pregnant mothers because of the fear that their babies may be too loud. 

I want these hearings to draw attention to homes like the one I visited on my first day as mayor. Homes where you can peel flimsy tiles off the walls. Homes where the pipes drip and rust. Homes where roaches scuttle across the floor. Homes where when you ask the tenant who lives there, [and ask] “When did this issue begin?” They tell you it was when their oldest born was just a few years old. And when you ask them their age today, they say it’s more than 20 years old. 

I want New Yorkers who have long been ignored by their landlords to finally be heard by our city government. These are not just listening sessions. These will be the rooms where the scope of the problem is understood, where it is addressed, where a report is drafted from which policy will be devised and crafted. And where New Yorkers have the opportunity to shape their democracy and its outcomes. 

And this is only the beginning of our work to transform the housing landscape and the lives of tenants across New York. We revitalized the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants for this very reason. For too long, New Yorkers have felt alone in their city. With nowhere to turn to when they’re ripped off or neglected. That legacy of abandonment ends today.