M
ayor‑elect Zohran Mamdani is set to leave the rent‑stabilized one‑bedroom he has called home in Astoria since 2018. The modest unit, located in a pre‑war elevator building on 35th Street, cost him roughly $2,000 a month when he first signed the lease, rising only to about $2,300 before he moved out. The apartment featured a “spacious living room,” a separate windowed kitchen, wood floors, a king‑size bedroom with two closets, and included heat and hot water in the rent. Laundry facilities and a building superintendent were the only amenities, and the building’s exterior reflected the typical no‑frills charm of older Astoria stock.
Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist and son of filmmaker Mira Nair and scholar Mahmood Mamdani, will relocate to Gracie Mansion with his wife, Rama Duwaji, after taking office in January. He said the move was driven by security concerns and the need to devote his full attention to the affordability agenda New Yorkers voted for. “My wife and I have decided to move into Gracie Mansion in January,” he announced, adding that the decision was “about our family’s safety and the importance of dedicating all of my focus on enacting the affordability agenda.” The choice also reflects the practical demands of governing from the city’s official residence on the Upper East Side.
The debate over a politician earning a six‑figure salary occupying a stabilized unit in a borough with scarce affordable inventory has been intense. Former Governor Andrew Cuomo criticized Mamdani’s residence, arguing it could have gone to someone in greater need. Mamdani countered that he moved in while earning $47,000 and was unaware of the unit’s regulatory status at the time. He has said he will keep the apartment, though the unit is currently not on the market and his office has not confirmed his intentions.
Despite the impending move, Mamdani remains emotionally attached to Astoria. He recalled “cooking dinner side by side in our kitchen, sharing a sleepy elevator ride with our neighbors in the evening, hearing music and laughter vibrate through the walls.” He emphasized that Astoria will always live inside him and in the work he does. “We will miss it all—the endless Adeni chai, the spirited conversations in Spanish, Arabic and every language in between, the aromas of seafood and shawarma drifting down the block,” he wrote, praising a community that “shown up for one another” during the pandemic, anti‑immigrant hostility, and the affordability crisis.
