Andrew Cuomo is demanding that his opponent in New York City’s mayoral race, Zohran Mamdani, vacate his rent stabilized apartment, while pushing a longshot proposal that would bar other middle-class renters from accessing much of the city’s housing.

Mayoral candidate Andrew M. Cuomo is criticizing front-runner Zohran Mamdani for living in a one-bedroom rent-stabilized apartment for $2,300 a month, calling on him "to move out immediately and give your affordable housing back to an unhoused family."

The attacks in the New York City mayor’s race may have veered into the personal, but they also reflected a larger debate on who should benefit from government regulation of housing costs.