Atop the list of landlord groups’ action items is to get a seat at the table whenever Mayor-elect Mamdani considers policies affecting their industry. Since small landlords with rent-regulated apartments are probably the industry’s most vulnerable to policies that could potentially reduce revenue or increase costs, the Small Property Owners of New York (SPONY) was quick to respond to the election results.

“We are determined to bring the newly elected mayor to the realization that small property owners are his partners in affordable housing, that we are the black, brown, immigrant and culturally diverse New Yorkers that are part of his new age that he defines by ‘a competence and a compassion’ that he correctly says have ‘too long been placed at odds with one another.’ We are not the enemy or the problem; we are the solution, the largest providers of affordable housing,” said Ann Korchak, board president, and Lincoln Eccles, board vice president, of SPONY.

“It isn’t hyperbole when we say that rent freezes will be affordable housing Armageddon for tenants and owners,” Korchak warned. “If he doesn’t want his legacy to be the collapse of affordable housing, the mayor-elect must allow the Rent Guidelines Board to set rent adjustments based on the RGB’s own data, and provide small owners with the resources needed to operate their buildings and provide quality affordable housing to New Yorkers.” 

As for other positive steps SPONY urges the mayor-elect to take, Korchak said, “He could make an immediate impact during his first 90 days in office by pressing Albany lawmakers and the Governor to lift stifling economic restrictions of the HSTPA [Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act] of 2019 that have created an unprecedented pool of over 50,000 empty rent-stabilized apartments, not because we are warehousing, but rather because we don't have the revenue to upgrade apartments as required by law when longtime tenants move out. Amending the law would provide the economic resources that small property owners need to bring these apartments to code and back into the market within months, and not the years it will take to construct new housing. This would provide housing to 50,000 families across the five boroughs.” 

Additionally, Korchak said, “The mayor must lead the fight to reform a property tax system that discriminates against immigrant, minority, and culturally diverse mom-and-pop building owners.”

New York Apartment Association (NYAA) CEO Kenny Burgos also sees property tax reform as a potential area of common ground with Mamdani. And Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) President Jim Whelan has indicated that REBNY will also seek to work closely with the new mayor.