Mamdani housing pick who claimed wealthy homeowners are part of a 'cartel' faces appointment pushback

Socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s pick for a key housing position in his administration has been slammed after he called wealthy homeowners “cartels.”

John Mangin, Mamdani’s Department of City Planning housing director, was chosen by the mayor to chair the Board of Standards and Appeals. The board can make exceptions to the Big Apple’s plethora of zoning laws.

“Many council members are concerned about some of his prior statements,” Council Speaker Julie Menin said last week.

In a 2014 Stanford Law and Policy Review article, Mangin ripped into what he called “wealthy homeowner cartels” for blocking new housing in “high-demand, high-cost neighborhoods” because they want higher property values.

“The housing advocacy community tends to argue for a ‘kludgy’ set of policies that can actually prevent new development and end up increasing housing prices,” he wrote at the time. He also bashed “community benefit agreements” between homeowners and developers.

He further added in the essay that "housing advocates should become the most forceful constituents for increasing development throughout high-demand metropolitan regions—especially in high-cost, high-demand areas where wealthy homeowner cartels successfully prevent denser development."

In order for Mangin to be appointed, at least 51 members of the city council have to approve him. However, some are starting to voice concerns over the pick from Mamdani, as first reported by Politico.

“On the face of it, a majority of members would be uncomfortable voting for him as it stands now,” one lawmaker told reporters. Well over a dozen members of the city council said they had reservations about Mangin's appointment during a Democratic conference last Tuesday.

“When you have someone who talks down on community benefits agreements and has an issue with that, that’s a really strong concern for the Council,” said Bronx Council member Kevin Riley, who chairs the Council’s Land Use Committee. “And coming from a district with a lot of homeowners, when you have someone who has very strong feelings against those residents, that’s a problem, too.”

The trouble for Mamdani's housing pick comes as rents have now hit an all-time high on average in the city as the mayor has been working to freeze the rents for those in subsidized housing.