Face of the Day

New Zealand’s biggest city has been cited as an example of the type of residential zoning New York’s mayor wants to introduce to the United States’ biggest city.

The Democratic Party’s Zohran Mamdani became mayor in November after running a campaign centred on affordable housing and reducing the cost of living for New Yorkers.

Key policies in the 33-year-old’s campaign included rent freezes, universal childcare, a chain of city-run grocery stores focused on affordability, and free city-wide buses.

“New York City is facing one of the most severe housing crises in American history,” he said during an announcement of more housing policy on the banks of the East River in Astoria.

“The only way to overcome this crisis is by building more affordable housing – and lots of it.”

Mamdani announced his office would invest $37 billion (USD$22 billion) over five years to build 200,000 affordable homes, preserve 200,000 more and make it easier to build housing of all kinds across New York City.

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