What Mamdani’s Pitch to Recognize Tenant Unions Could Mean

Mayor Zohran Mamdani seems to be all-in on tenant unions, the latest administration priority that could spell big changes for New York landlords.

Tenant associations were a key part of the mayor’s “Rental Ripoff” report, which included plans to float legislation to “legally recognize” the groups.

Although details on what Mamdani is envisioning are scant, tenant union legislation enacted in other progressive cities has focused on requiring landlords to meet with established unions in their buildings.

The idea in certain circles that tenants can and should “unionize” has grown in the past five years, said Greg Baltz, a professor at Rutgers Law School who teaches and writes about the tenant movement.

The concept of tenants as a political identity percolated after the foreclosure crisis, Baltz said. But the pandemic brought momentum as existing groups distributed materials and new groups took form.

“It’s been a combination of this force of downwardly mobile, post-crash, tenants starting to see themselves as a political group,” Baltz said. “[And] more groups distributing, especially over the internet, materials, trainings, frameworks, for tenants to figure out how to organize on their own.”

There are a few places Mamdani might be looking for inspiration. One is existing federal rules around project-based Section 8 housing, where private landlords are required to give tenant associations protecting, like allowing them to meet in common areas and free from interference or retaliation. New York already has similar laws on the books, but with different enforcement mechanisms and no automatic money penalties.

Mamdani might also look west to California. San Francisco and Berkeley have both passed legislation requiring landlords to specifically “confer in good faith” with tenant unions in their buildings.

In San Francisco, this means that tenants can show their landlord a petition showing support for the union from half the occupied units in the building, in a model resembling American labor law. The landlord is then required to meet with the tenant association quarterly, if invited, for up to two hours.

But the law doesn’t require any specific outcomes from these meetings, said Daniel Bornstein, who represents Bay Area landlords with Bornstein Law.

“You can’t ignore an association,” he said. “You’re not obligated to do anything that an owner is not inclined to do.”

At their best, tenant unions can help landlords understand issues in their buildings and keep communication open, according to Bornstein. At their worst, they can either escalate individual issues building-wide or become derailed by inconsequential topics.

“It can be a vehicle of understanding between different groups,” Bornstein said. “But generally, it becomes — excuse the French — a bitch session driven by one real significant advocate.”

It’s not clear what sort of model Mamdani and his administration are envisioning. But tenant unions continue to be top of mind for the administration.

The mayor’s office recently put out a 13-minute video on the Union of Pinnacle Tenants, a group that is trying to represent tenants across the more than 5,000 apartments formerly owned by Pinnacle Group and now owned by Summit Properties.

The film championed the union and its organizing efforts, and the administration said the video’s release and screening was part of its broader goal to “build tenant power” in New York.

The situation in the former Pinnacle buildings underscores the public relations role that organized tenants can play, as the union has made housing conditions across the portfolio a citywide discussion and won the ear of the mayor. But the story of the Pinnacle tenants isn’t over, as the group has been publicly butting heads with its new landlord over timelines for repairs.

Summit continues to meet with the group, as well as other renters, according to spokesperson Jordan Barowitz.

“We remain in constructive dialogue with residents, resident groups, and their representatives,” he said in a statement. “We believe direct engagement with residents is the best way to identify issues, address concerns, and continue making meaningful progress across the portfolio.”