Equity in policy New York City Council member Zohran Mamdani, a progressive celebrity. His other ambitious policy proposals address the lack of affordable housing and access to childcare, among other issues the city is facing. Among his plans are freezing rent increases for nearly one million rent-stabilized renters. They want to increase the production of affordable housing and provide free childcare for all children under school age—similar ideas that have already been implemented in cities across Europe. These concepts have broad political support in most European countries. In the United States, infrastructure supporters cast them as radical and ambitious.
Mamdani’s proposal to freeze rent is a much-needed starting point. It moves the needle on his much larger agenda of tripling the production of affordable homes within New York City. This blueprint addresses the burden of increased housing costs on renters—an increasingly evident increase in households. As this audience grows, many of these people struggle to afford increasingly unaffordable rents. To stabilize renters’ lives, Mamdani plans to use a rent freeze. He does want to make it easier to develop more affordable housing.
Beyond a housing reform platform, Mamdani’s campaign calls for a childcare revolution. He vows to make childcare free for every child in New York City from six weeks to five years. This program is similar to groundwork laid in other countries, including in Germany. Since 2018, Germany has guaranteed free childcare for kids from their first birthday to when they start formal schooling. New Mexico was in the news recently as the first U.S. state to provide free childcare to all of its residents.
Mamdani remains committed to supporting new parents. Their community advocates also provide baby baskets with diapers, baby wipes, nursing pads, swaddles, and books to new mothers. This new initiative is similar to Finland’s universal baby box program. Since its launch in 1949, that program has sparked almost 100 similar efforts in over 60 countries.
The young council member has issued an exhilarating pledge. As part of a larger effort to address food insecurity, she’ll open one city-owned grocery store in each of New York’s five boroughs, starting with a pilot program. If successful, this creative initiative might allow us to scale up even further and have more communities gain access to nutritious food that our underserved communities need.
Despite the ambitious nature of these proposals, their introduction has been met with highly polarized responses within the United States. Prominent economists like former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers have criticized Mamdani’s rent control ideas, labeling them as detrimental to urban development.
“This is why criticisms of Mamdani’s rent freeze ring hollow for me – it’s painted as out of touch, yet there’s already a precedent, backed by government reports and data.” – Leah Goodridge
In sharp relief from American opinion, most Europeans think Mamdani’s policies are profoundly reasonable and long overdue. Americans will find some of his suggestions laughably impractical, at least as standalone proposals, Ms. Holland says. Yet in Western European states, those same ideas correspond nearly 1-to-1 with citizens expectations.
“To anyone living in a western European state, the self-professed democratic socialist’s ideas probably sound entirely reasonable,” – Mary Holland
“But to many Americans, they’re wildly ambitious – radical, even.” – Mary Holland
In reality, most Europeans have long understood how important public services like transportation are for improving overall quality of life. According to Verbeek, looking out for one another through robust public programs isn’t some crazy liberal idea — it’s a basic expectation.
“Here, taking care of one another through public programs isn’t radical socialism. It’s Tuesday.” – Verbeek
This cultural divide goes deeper, striking at the heart of how social policies are perceived in Europe vs America. Even though Mamdani’s initiatives may appear radical by American standards, they reflect popular models of success established abroad. Berlin, which recently won approval for a five-year rent freeze. This innovative initiative has positively impacted 90% of the city’s flats. In fact, a 2022 study found that rent control had no negative effect on residents’ openness to new housing development.
European capitals like Tallinn, Spain’s cities and others have saved their citizens time and hassle through new public services. Tallinn, Estonia, has indeed taken the plunge, becoming the largest city on Earth to implement fare-free public transport. That innovative effort started more than ten years ago. These precedents serve to demonstrate the power of bold and progressive solutions to solve some of our cities’ most pressing challenges.
“Europeans recognize his vision about free public transit and universal childcare. We expect our governments to make these kinds of services accessible to all of us,” – Verbeek
Mamdani’s proposals challenge the prevailing narrative in the United States that such initiatives are impossible or impractical. Alexander Verbeek makes the case that on an American scale, these policies are indeed ambitious. They only show us the priorities that Europeans have long enjoyed as the default.
“He promised things that Europeans take for granted, but Americans are told are impossible,” – Alexander Verbeek
As Mamdani pushes these policies further, he’s won powerful allies and attracted bitter opponents. His approach resonates with many who see the need for urgent action on issues like housing and childcare, while others caution against potential economic repercussions.