New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani made a surprise trip to the White House yesterday with the goal of lobbying President Trump into allocating $21 billion federal funds for a massive affordable housing project.
The proposed project would build 12,000 affordable housing units at Sunnyside Yard, a rail yard in Queens. The mayor’s office claimed the project “would create 30,000 good-paying union jobs and deliver new parks, schools and health care clinics,” adding the proposal marks “the largest housing and infrastructure investment in New York City in more than 50 years.”
“To meet this moment, we need a true federal partner prepared to invest boldly and act urgently,” said Mamdani in a statement. “I appreciated the opportunity to speak directly with President Trump about building more housing in any single project than our city has seen since 1973.”
During the meeting, Mamdani sought to flatter the president by recalling his real estate career. The mayor presented a copy of the infamous 1975 Daily News cover reading “Ford to City: Drop Dead” and a mock-up of the tabloid’s front page with the headline “Trump to City: Let’s Build.”
The White House did not comment on the meeting. The relationship between Trump and Mamdani has evolved curiously, with the Democratic Socialist repeatedly blasting the president during his 2025 mayoral campaign but dialing down his angry rhetoric after being elected. The two men had a cordial meeting at the White last November after Mamdani’s election.
Earlier this week, Trump cited Mamdani during his State of the Union address by calling him a “communist,” but quickly added, “I think he’s a nice guy, actually. I speak to him a lot. Bad policy, but nice guy.”
Photo courtesy of Mayor Mamdani’s social media pages
Do the math! See the corruption! 21B divided by 12,000 homes = $1,750,000 per door. Complete government corruption through and through. This should not pass ever!
The article clearly states the project would build parks, schools and health care clinics. The cost to build assumes the government has developed water, sewer, roads, etc. This is known as infrastructure. The private sector relies on this (some would say are subsidized by) public development so they can simply build structures. Whether they build an apartment complex, houses or an office building the local governments must be able to supply water, handle sewage and supply schools and parks for the residents. The government gets repaid through user fees and property taxes over long periods and at low rates (bonds). If the government does not contribute to large development projects they simply won’t happen. Final note: affordability is relative. Real estate is way more expensive in NY than Mississippi or Alabama or Kansas. Those states are poor and have far fewer dollars chasing a limited number of assets. This is also the definition of inflation. So affordable in Queens may be $500,000. But converting an old rail yard to housing is definitely a better use of our land. Vacant industrial land isn’t helping anyone.
Details are important. Appreciate the definition of infrastructure.
Why in the world as a tax payer in Florida would I want to contribute to build housing in New York City? And I second the previous comment. 1.7 million plus per unit. They’re wacked!!!
let the socialists and communists fund the project!
I agree.