Cuomo’s First Mayoral Campaign Promise: A Plan to Tackle Affordability

When former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo joined the New York City mayoral race over the weekend, he reintroduced himself to New Yorkers after years out of the public eye.

On Monday, he will start to introduce his proposals to improve the city, starting with a detailed plan to make it more affordable.

The plan includes plenty of ideas that could be popular with families: expanding free preschool for 3-year-olds to make it truly universal, creating free bus routes, building affordable housing and reducing taxes for some residents.

“With the right leadership, we will restore affordability and help ensure that New York remains a place where all have the opportunity to succeed and thrive,” Mr. Cuomo said in a statement.

Affordability has become a major theme in the mayoral race, along with public safety and the impact of the Trump administration on the city.

New York is facing a once-in-a-generation affordability crisis that has left roughly half of city households struggling to pay for basic necessities. Rents and other expenses have soared, pushing families out of the city. Polls have shown that voters are deeply concerned about the cost of living and creating more affordable housing.

But Mr. Cuomo’s critics have argued that he failed to address affordability in his decade as governor, and that he is aligned with wealthy New Yorkers rather than working-class residents.

Mr. Cuomo has led in early mayoral polls ahead of Mayor Eric Adams, a fellow Democrat who is seeking a second term despite corruption allegations and record-low approval ratings. Seven other Democrats are running against them in the June primary.

In recent months, Mr. Adams has prioritized affordability and pledged to make the city “the best place to raise a family.” He fought for approval of a housing proposal known as City of Yes that could create 80,000 new homes, but he has received criticism over his budget cuts to libraries and free preschool.

Mr. Cuomo’s 20-plus-page plan aims to address five key issues: tax relief, affordable housing, transportation costs, child care and health care. It embraces ideas that have circulated among Democrats, including building affordable housing through tax incentives and on open space at public housing developments and expanding a popular half-priced MetroCard program for poor New Yorkers.

His embrace of universal preschool for 3-year-olds reflects the popularity of the program, which was created by former Mayor Bill de Blasio, a nemesis of Mr. Cuomo. Mr. de Blasio and Mr. Cuomo warred over how to fund free preschool for 4-year-olds, and Mr. Cuomo opposed enacting a tax on the wealthy to pay for it.

Mr. Cuomo said he would expand the 3-K program to the full pool of 60,000 children to make it fully universal for all families. Mr. Adams has criticized the program, and some neighborhoods do not have enough seats to meet the demand.

Several other candidates have released proposals to make the city more affordable. Zohran Mamdani, a state assemblyman, wants to build city-owned grocery stores to lower food prices and to make all buses free. Zellnor Myrie, a state senator, wants to build or preserve one million homes. Brad Lander, the city comptroller, has focused on affordable housing and preschool. Scott Stringer, a former city comptroller, wants to extend the school day to reduce after-school costs.

Mr. Cuomo resigned as governor in 2021 after a series of sexual harassment allegations, which he denies. He has opposed new congestion pricing tolls for drivers in Manhattan, arguing that they could hurt the city’s economic recovery, though he helped approve the plan in 2019.

The progressive candidates in the race have criticized Mr. Cuomo as beholden to wealthy New Yorkers and say he governed like a Republican.

“Cuomo is lining up his base of billionaires, developers and lobbyists. We’re staying focused on the working class,” Mr. Mamdani said after a major real estate group supported a super PAC to boost Mr. Cuomo’s campaign.

Mr. Cuomo’s tax proposals appear to be geared toward both lower-income residents and wealthier ones. He said he would increase the threshold of the mansion tax — a tax paid by those who buy expensive homes — to $2.5 million from $1 million, and keep the cap on property taxes for single-family homes to offer relief to homeowners.

He would also eliminate city income taxes on tips — a local version of an idea that President Trump has trumpeted nationally — and get rid of city income tax for many poor families.

In Mr. Cuomo’s launch video on Saturday, he signaled that he would also focus on public safety and homelessness — and would stand up to Mr. Trump when necessary. He painted a bleak picture of New York and argued that he would “save our city.”

“You feel it when you walk down the street and try not to make eye contact with a mentally ill homeless person,” he said, “or when the anxiety rises up in your chest as you’re walking down into the subway.”