Zohran Mamdani is set to begin a new mayoral term after a historic election that gave him the highest vote count for a New York City mayor in 60 years. After winning with a campaign focused on working-class issues, he now faces the challenge of delivering on his promises as living costs remain at record highs, economic growth shows signs of slowing, federal support weakens and budget pressures mount.

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Housing remains the most severe strain on household finances. More than half of a typical family’s income goes towards rent, while about 100,000 people rely on homeless shelters each night, according to CNN. In Manhattan, median monthly rents have crossed $5,400. “This is what a full-blown affordability crisis looks like,” Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine said in a December report.Central to Mamdani’s agenda is a pledge to freeze rents in rent-stabilised apartments, a policy he has described as his “landmark policy”.

Nearly one million apartments, close to half of the city’s rental housing, would be affected. However, nonprofit housing providers and developers operating subsidised units say that existing revenues are already insufficient to meet operating costs.Simultaneously, the rising cost of daily necessities has pushed many residents into financial distress. Around 1.4 million people, roughly 15% of the city’s population, face food insecurity.

Child care costs are also among the highest in the country, with a family required to earn $334,000 annually to afford care for a two-year-old, according to US Census Bureau data.Data from Community Preservation Corporation shows that since 2020, expenses for rent-stabilised housing have increased by 22%, while rents have risen by only about 11%. Industry experts warn that the gap between costs and income could lead to worsening building conditions as expenses for insurance, labour and utilities continue to rise.Alongside rent control, Mamdani has proposed the construction of 200,000 permanently subsidised affordable homes aimed at low- and moderate-income residents. Yet financial stress within the affordable housing sector is already evident. “The trends of increasing costs and reduced income are unsustainable for affordable housing,” Enterprise Community Partners and National Equity Fund said in a recent report, calling for emergency funding and state intervention to curb insurance expenses.Beyond housing, Mamdani has committed to free child care for children aged six weeks to five years and removing fares from city-run buses. Funding these initiatives depends on state approval to increase taxes on high-income residents and corporations. New York governor Kathy Hochul has publicly opposed making the entire bus network free, citing the potential $1 billion loss in fare revenue for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.Whether Mamdani can turn this proposal into policy will depend on political pressure from his support base, according to Columbia University historian Kim Phillips-Fein. His grassroots campaign has already inspired allies to launch a nonprofit organisation aimed at pressing city and state lawmakers in Albany. “People thought Mamdani’s election was impossible a year ago, but it was accomplished through significant political organizing,” Phillips-Fein said.