New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s effort to intervene in the sale of thousands of rent-stabilized rental properties has been blocked by a federal Judge.
Mamdani wanted to slow the sale after tenants complained that the seller, Pinnacle Group, had maintained the properties poorly and were worried that the prospective buyer, Summit Properties USA, would have similar issues.
Mamdani’s administration tried to intervene on the basis of being a creditor to Pinnacle, which owes the city more than $12 million in unpaid fines, Gothamist reported.
On Thursday, Bankruptcy Judge David Jones rejected Mamdani’s effort, setting back the new mayor’s first venture into the city’s housing market.
Fox Business said that Jones could approve the sale to Summit as soon as this Thursday, but Mamdani’s administration said it still is looking at options.
“We will continue to fight to ensure any owner of this portfolio makes necessary repairs to bring the buildings up to code and respects the rent stabilization regulations,” Leila Bozorg, the city’s deputy mayor for housing, told Gothamist.
The ruling comes after another controversy that bruised Mamdani’s housing agenda, namely his hiring of Cea Weaver to lead the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants. Weaver has said previously that home ownership is a “weapon of white supremacy” and argued that property should be treated as a “collective good.”
Referring to that controversy, Weaver said she regretted “some” of her past comments. While she did not specify which statements she regrets, Weaver said she wants to tackle “racial inequalities” while serving New Yorkers.
“But, you know, I do think my decades of experience fighting for more affordable housing sort of stands on its own,” Weaver said. “I’m proud to be in this role fighting for stronger tenants’ rights. And I think that for many years, people have been locked out of the property market, that has produced systemic and racial inequalities in our system.”
The post Federal Judge Blocks Mamdani’s Intervention in Sale of NYC Rent-Stabilized Properties first appeared on The MortgagePoint.
