New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Friday said that President Donald Trump was “interested in the idea of working together” on the New York City housing project he pitched to him when they met at the White House on Thursday.
The project, Mamdani said, is aimed at constructing 12,000 new homes in the Queens neighborhood of Sunnyside. After the White House meeting, Mamdani characterized his conversation with the president as productive.
“I left New York City. I traveled down to Washington, D.C., to meet with President Trump in the Oval Office,” Mandani said at a press conference in New York on Friday. “I proposed working together to build more than 12,000 new homes in our city, which would be the single largest housing development New York City has seen since 1973.”
Mamdani, who centered much of his mayoral campaign messaging around affordability, continued talking about it in the context of this project.
Trump has tried and failed to withhold federal funds for the Gateway Tunnel project, and even for terrorism prevention from the city and state. Asked about assurances that the president would support the housing project, Mamdani said he was “encouraged” by Trump’s response.
“Right now, we know there are far too few homes in New York City, even for those who already call New York City home, let alone for those who want to join us in this city,” Mamdani said.
The White House did not immediately respond to NOTUS’ request for comment.
The mayor and the president have established a line of communication that is unusual for Democrats and Republicans in the current political environment. They have kept in touch in recent months since Mamdani was elected.
“I will always look to keep an open line of communication with the president of our country, and to do so always with the interests of New Yorkers in mind,” Mandani told reporters.
Mamdani also used their meeting to push for the release of a Columbia University student who was detained by federal agents Thursday. Asked on Friday if other topics had come up during their meeting, Mamdani said they mainly discussed housing, but that his concerns about federal immigration enforcement came up.
“I shared my concerns as part of my long-standing belief that ICE raids are not only cruel, they also do nothing to advance the cause of public safety,” Mamdani said.
Don’t miss the stories shaping Washington.
Sign in
Log into your free account with your email. Don’t have one?
Check your email for a one-time code.
We sent a 4-digit code to . Enter the pin to confirm your account.
New code will be available in 1:00
Let’s try this again.
We encountered an error with the passcode sent to . Please reenter your email.