New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, speaking at a news conference Thursday, called for huge changes in the city’s rental market including elimination of proof of income for tenants. Mamdani hosted the news conference to promote his “Rental Ripoff Report,” created to “strengthen tenant protections, improve housing quality and hold negligent landlords accountable,” according to the report’s summary. The report included a series of recommendations for New York City including “recognizing tenant unions, expanding tenants’ ability to organize and bargain collectively over building conditions and other shared concerns,” according to a release from the mayor’s office. It suggested new rules for landlords to “disclose when rental listings have been altered using artificial intelligence or other digital tools,” the release noted. According to a June report by the Corcoran Group, a real estate firm, rents in New York City have reached record highs. “Manhattan’s and Brooklyn’s median rents reached $5,295 and $4,350, respectively, in June,” Fox News reported Monday. At the news conference, Mamdani was flanked by the director of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants, Cea Weaver, who in the past has endorsed electing more communists and has said that private property and home ownership are weapons of “white supremacy.” In a January interview with Spectrum News NY1, Weaver said of her controversial past remarks, “Some of those things are certainly not how I would say things today, and are regretful.” Antonia Marrero, a member of the Housing Organizers for People Empowerment Tenant Union, denounced evictions as “violence” and said that Mamdani would usher in a new era in New York City. Marrero said, “Our city is turning the corner on tenant power. When we organize, we win results. The Mamdani administration is emboldening us so we no longer tolerate the violence of evictions as a matter of business as usual.” The Daily Signal reached out to Mamdani’s office and HOPE’s press office about what was meant by the phrase “violence” of evictions, but they did not respond by publication time. Marrero, who was wearing a mask during her speech, drew criticism from conservatives on X who labeled the news conference a “freak show” and denounced his reforms as a power grab. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in a post on X, called the press conference a “theater of the absurd.” Nick Freitas, a former Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates, wrote on X that the language of a policy being “violence” sets up a moral foundation for calling the response “self defense.” Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation, said the press conference looked like “a scene out of a Batman movie.” Law professor Jonathan Turley called Mamdani’s new policies “part of a constructive seizure of private property.” After holding a press conference on ending "the violence of evictions," Mayor Mamdani is pushing reforms that include banning or discouraging the use of credit checks by landlords. So the city will oppose landlords checking if tenants can pay rent and then oppose any effort to…— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) July 17, 2026