Mamdani’s tenant relief pledge meets 31% rent hike at Bronx complex

Tracey Towers tenants were told in a June meeting that their carrying charges would rise by a little more than 30 percent over four years, a sharp increase at the 871-unit Mitchell-Lama complex in Jerome Park, Bronx. The notice landed as Mayor Zohran Mamdani has centered his housing message on tenant relief, creating a stark split between rent-stabilized apartments and other subsidized housing that can still see steep increases.

The Bronx dispute has turned Tracey Towers into a test case for New York’s separate affordable-housing system. Mitchell-Lama, created in 1955 and overseen in New York City by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, was designed for moderate- and middle-income households. But unlike rent-stabilized apartments, Mitchell-Lama rents and carrying charges can rise to cover operating costs, debt service and repairs. That structure leaves residents exposed when expenses climb, even inside buildings marketed as affordable.

Mamdani’s housing agenda has leaned heavily on tenant protection. He has proposed a freeze for roughly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments and, in a housing plan released May 26, 2026, set a goal of building 200,000 new affordable homes and preserving another 200,000 over the next decade. The administration’s own housing blueprint points to the city’s 1.4 percent vacancy rate, underscoring the pressure on renters across New York City. But the Tracey Towers increase shows that a large share of affordable housing sits outside the rent-stabilization fight dominating city politics.

Residents, including seniors and Section 8 voucher holders, said they were blindsided and want a fuller accounting of the building’s finances. Their objections are sharpened by long-delayed repair needs inside the complex, where the proposed hike is tied to the costs Mitchell-Lama rules are built to absorb. HPD has also formalized a separate process for rent increases for units whose rent is paid partly or wholly by subsidies, widening the gap between the promise of affordability and the reality facing some tenants.

The city maintains that Mitchell-Lama developments remain affordable because they are linked to operating costs rather than annual Rent Guidelines Board limits. At Tracey Towers, that distinction now means a complex created to keep housing within reach can still deliver a 31 percent bill to the people living in it.