This article was first published at American Thinker.
In his inaugural address on January 1, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani promised that he “will govern as a Democratic socialist” and “will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”
A few hours later, Mamdani delivered on that promise when he “announced the appointment of nationally recognized tenant organizer and housing advocate Cea Weaver as Director of the newly revitalized Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants.”
Like her new boss, Weaver is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which seeks to “collectively own the key economic drivers that dominate our lives, such as energy production and transportation” and “win ‘radical’ reforms like single-payer Medicare for All, defunding the police/refunding communities, the Green New Deal, and more.”
Before becoming NYC’s housing czar, Weaver was executive director of Housing Justice for All, a state-based lobbying group that supports rent freezes, rent subsidies, and “publicly backed housing that is insulated from market forces.”
Weaver also served as executive director of the New York State Tenant Bloc, which advocates “rent control to every renter,” “social housing programs,” and “new safety net programs to help people pay the rent.”
Weaver has been tasked with addressing the “city’s housing crisis,” however, she is almost assured to fail in that noble endeavor because socialism always fails.
According to Apartments.com, “As of January 2026, the average rent in New York, NY is $4,031 per month. This is 148% higher than the national average rent price of $1,624/month, making New York one of the most expensive cities in the US.”
New York City’s housing market is even worse. Last year, the median sales price for homes in NYC was $785,000 whereas the national median sales price was $425,000.
In March 2024, the New York City Comptroller issued a report warning that “The inventory of homes available for purchase … has declined steadily over the past three years and is just about at a seven-year low.”
“One factor bolstering home prices is a relative dearth of inventory,” the report noted.
Against this backdrop, I find it difficult to see how Weaver will succeed in her quest to help tenants and would-be homeowners given her hostility to free enterprise and market forces.
The reason that rent and home prices are as high as the skyscrapers in New York City is at least partially due to the existing web of rent control and other socialistic policies that have wildly skewed housing price signals for years.
During World War II, New York City was the first metropolis in America to pass rent control laws, which are still in place today. In the decades since, myriad more “rent stabilization” programs have been put in place.
Meanwhile, NYC’s astronomical property tax rates, burdensome building codes, restrictive zoning laws, and arcane permitting process further discourage new home and apartment construction.
If the Mamdani administration really wanted to address the city’s housing crisis, it should begin by incentivizing the building of new housing rather than doubling-down on failed “rent control” programs.
But maybe Mamdani is not genuinely interested in a robust housing market fueled by the private sector.
Perhaps he is more inclined to pour even more money and resources into public housing.
This would explain why Mamdani chose Weaver, who has made it abundantly clear that she abhors private property rights and home ownership.
In 2019, Weaver wrote, “private property including and kind of ESPECIALLY homeownership is a weapon of white supremacy masquerading as ‘wealth building’ public policy.”
Of course, like most socialists, the rules do not apply to Weaver.
While Weaver talks of “seizing private property” and ridicules the American dream of home ownership, her mother lives in a $1.4 million mansion in Nashville, Tennessee.
Like so many socialists, Weaver is a hypocrite who embodies the classic socialist attitude: do as I say, not as I do.
Chris Talgo (CTalgo@heartland.org) is the editorial director and a research fellow at The Heartland Institute, as well as a researcher and contributing editor at StoppingSocialism.com.
