Even Mamdani’s favorite landlords are exasperated

When Mayor Zohran Mamdani vilifies landlords, he’s not talking about Ismene Speliotis. In the mayor’s simplistic world of good and evil, she would be called a “high road” landlord. She runs Mamdani’s favorite kind of business, an affordable housing nonprofit. She testified for one of his favorite bills, to mandate a “living wage” and benefits for construction workers. She is mission-driven, reaching out repeatedly to help nonpaying renters before filing to evict. But 35 years into her housing career, even Speliotis is at her wits’ end. Rent freezes, housing court dysfunction, troubled tenants and the crushing weight of the city’s […]

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