Opinion

STEVE FORBES: Mamdani’s socialist rent-control puts New York on the road to housing ruin

Mamdani-backed candidates scored primary wins, signaling more rent control is coming

By Steve Forbes Fox News

Published July 1, 2026 9:00am EDT

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New York City has just taken another giant step backward.

The Rent Guidelines Board voted 7-1 to freeze rents on roughly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments, handing Democrat Mayor Zohran Mamdani a major political trophy. Mamdani called it a "historic victory." It is nothing of the sort. It is an act of economic vandalism dressed up as compassion.

This is not housing policy. It is price control. And price controls have failed everywhere they have been tried.

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The mayor’s philosophy is no mystery. Mamdani comes from the hard-left, Democratic Socialists of America school of politics: Government knows best, private property is suspect, landlords are villains and markets must be bent to political will. The language may be modern, but the outlook is old: socialize the benefits, demonize ownership, punish investment and then act surprised when shortages and decay follow.

Aber Kawas, a Palestinian American community organizer and democratic socialist........

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