New York, NY

The Policies Behind the Machine

Zohran Mamdani ran on a promise to rescue New York from “greedy landlords,” “corporate developers,” and “capitalist housing interests.” His supporters believe they elected a socialist who will finally break the system.

But what if the system just elected its most useful ally?

What if Mamdani’s platform — marketed as anti-capitalist — is actually the perfect policy blueprint for big developers, national real-estate funds, and the lawyers who run the city’s most powerful land-use offices?

What if his policies don’t dismantle the crony-capitalist machine… but strengthen it?

Let’s examine them one by one.

The Housing Agenda That Big Developers Love

Mamdani wants to:
• Freeze rents
• Enforce strict rent stabilization
• Expand public housing construction
• Increase mandatory “affordable” set-asides
• Strengthen tenant protections
• Increase eviction restrictions

To a working-class renter, this sounds like justice.
To a small landlord, it sounds like strangulation.

But to a mega-developer, a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), or a large institutional owner?

It’s fantastic.

A. Rent freezes destroy small landlords but not corporate ones.

Small owners operate with:
• razor-thin margins
• rising taxes
• rising insurance
• aging buildings

A rent freeze can bankrupt them.

But large developers?
They have:
• capital reserves
• diversified portfolios
• the ability to convert units or lobby for exemptions
• legal teams (like Brown Rudnick) to navigate loopholes

Rent freezes eliminate their competition.

B. Strict regulation increases consolidation

Small landlords sell when they can’t keep up.
Guess who buys?

Blackstone. Related. Brookfield. RXR. Tishman.

And who represents these types of firms?

Attorneys like Tom Regan.

C. More government control = more public-private deals

And who thrives on public-private deals?

Law firms, consultants, and big developers — not working-class renters.

The Subsidy Ecosystem That Feeds the Giants

Progressives assume subsidies help tenants.

But the most lucrative subsidies in New York flow upward:
• Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC)
• 421-a legacy deals
• Bond financing
• Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) bonuses
• Zoning density incentives
• Tax-exempt bond issuances
• Infrastructure abatements

These programs are so complex that:

Only the largest developers with elite lawyers can use them.

The result?

A system where “affordable housing” is only affordable for:
• massive corporate landlords
• politically connected developers
• big firms represented by lawyers like Tom Regan

Meanwhile:
• Small landlords receive none of these subsidies
• Middle-class renters never see the benefit
• Working-class families remain trapped in broken rent-stabilized relics

The “affordable housing” ecosystem is actually a corporate subsidy ecosystem with a progressive label slapped on top.

How Progressive Housing Policy Accidentally Creates Corporate Power

Progressives believe:
• more regulation = more justice
• more requirements = more fairness
• more government control = more affordability

But historically and economically, the opposite is true:

The more regulated a housing market becomes, the easier it is for giant firms to dominate it.

Why?

Because:
• Regulation increases fixed costs
• Complexity increases legal costs
• Approvals require political access
• Set-asides require scale
• Subsidies require sophisticated finance
• Public-private partnerships require elite negotiation teams

These are burdens small landlords cannot carry — but large developers profit from.

This is why housing markets with the most regulation (NYC, San Francisco) have:
• the highest rents
• the lowest homeownership
• the sharpest developer consolidation
• the most severe housing shortages

In other words:

Progressive policy doesn’t break corporate housing power — it feeds it.

And Mamdani’s platform is the most regulation-heavy housing agenda in NYC history.

How Small Landlords and Working-Class Renters Get Crushed

While mega-developers navigate complex incentive structures, small landlords face:
• rising property taxes
• rising water/sewer fees
• insurance spikes
• no access to subsidies
• limits on rent increases
• legal costs for eviction
• regulatory burdens
• aging infrastructure with no city help

Small landlords then sell.
Corporate buyers swoop in.

Tenants lose:
• the personal relationship
• flexibility
• on-site owner attention
• stability
• neighborhood continuity

Working-class renters end up with:
• corporate management companies
• anonymous call centers
• automated rent increases
• worse repairs

Mamdani claims to fight for these renters — but his policies produce the opposite outcomes.

So… Who Benefits From Mamdani’s Platform?

Not renters.
Not working-class families.
Not small landlords.
Not communities.

But the winners are easy to spot:
• mega-developers
• REITs
• institutional owners
• political consultants
• large construction firms
• public-private developers
• elite law firms (like Brown Rudnick)
• subsidy-seeking corporate landlords

And if the treasurer of Coro — the man helping shape the pipeline that produced Elle Bisgaard-Church — is one of the top lawyers for these exact players…

Then we must ask:

Is Mamdani governing like a socialist… or like a crony capitalist?

Because when you examine the incentives, the connections, the policy feedback loops, and the corporate beneficiaries, the picture becomes clearer:

The system Mamdani claims to fight is the system his policies strengthen.
The interests he denounces are the interests his administration empowers.
The real-estate machine he condemns is the machine he is—perhaps unknowingly—helping maintain.

New Yorkers deserve to know:

Who is truly benefiting from Mamdani’s agenda?

And who is ACTUALLY behind New York’s new mayor?

References

• NYC Housing Incentive Programs — Public Records
• Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program — Federal Documentation
• Mandatory Inclusionary Housing — NYC Department of City Planning
• Brown Rudnick LLP — Real Estate Practice Overview