New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and his wife, Rama, will take up residence in Gracie Mansion, the official residence for the mayor, after he is sworn into office on New Year’s Day.
According to combined media reports, Mamdani will be trading in his one-bedroom, $2,300 a month rent-stabilized apartment in the Astoria section of Queens for the rent-free, five-bedroom mansion located in Manhattan’s affluent Upper East Side. In an Instagram posting, the Democratic Socialist insisted his decision to occupy the mansion was based on his “family’s safety and the importance of dedicating all of my focus on enacting the affordability agenda New Yorkers voted for.”
The mansion was built in 1799 and has been the official home to the city’s mayors since Fiorello LaGuardia in 1942. A few mayors opted not to live there, most recently Michael Bloomberg during his 2002-2013 mayoralty.
