WEBVTT - How Allia Mohamed Built Openigloo 0:00:02.360 --> 0:00:05.320 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the 0:00:05.320 --> 0:00:10.520 Thing from iHeart Radio. Renting an apartment in any city 0:00:10.600 --> 0:00:14.319 can be a stressful and daunting situation, but nowhere more 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:18.800 so than New York. My guest today is the creator 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:22.239 of a platform that makes the process of finding both 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:29.240 quality apartments and landlords easier. Alia Mohammed created open Igloo 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:33.920 after navigating her own frustrations with the rental market. Born 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:39.400 in Canada, Mohammed spent nearly a decade working in international finance, 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:44.519 venture capital, and consulting. She would eventually leave finance for 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:48.400 the startup world and chose a cause close to home. 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:53.680 With open Igloo, Mohammed hopes to bring transparency to rental 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:58.080 markets by combining open source city data with feedback and 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:03.160 reviews directly from tennant. As of this year, twenty twenty six, 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:06.960 open igloo has supported more than three million New York 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:10.759 City renters. I wanted to know how open igloo gained 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:14.840 such a large following since its launch in twenty twenty. 0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:18.520 They find us on social media, they hear about us 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:22.800 through friends and family, and sometimes on podcasts and then 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:23.479 radio shows. 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:26.399 Okay, but when they come to you they is it 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:28.440 a fee they pay? Now? I was told that there's 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:30.840 was there a fee from the beginning, and now there 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:32.920 and there wasn't and now there is whove grounds much 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:33.920 you need to charge them my fee? 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:36.960 Yeah, So we support renters all across the five boroughs 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:40.360 in researching buildings and landlords. They're considering and searching for 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:43.800 quality apartments. So we don't charge renters when they search 0:01:43.880 --> 0:01:46.360 for an apartment on our platform. The way that we 0:01:46.440 --> 0:01:50.720 monetize is we build partnerships with quality and reputable owners, 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:53.000 and when we send them, renters to their door and 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:56.040 at least get signed. That's how we get compensated. 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:58.240 Owners of the buildings. Exactly, and how did the owners 0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:00.760 of the buildings react at first when you went to 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:02.000 them and tell them what it was you had up 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:03.440 your slave. It's a great question. 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:06.640 So at the beginning, they were definitely cautious about what 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:08.880 we were building. So we built a platform that allows 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:12.359 renters to read and share reviews about their rental experiences. 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:15.240 We coupled that with city data, so we give renters 0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:18.240 access to are there any open violations in this building? 0:02:18.280 --> 0:02:22.480 Any litigation history, any eviction history? So landlords were you know, 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:25.160 a little bit cautious. But what we've done is we 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:27.720 built a community of landlords that are really supportive of 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:32.840 this transparency because landlords who take their businesses seriously understand 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:36.040 that renters knowing the good, bad and ugly before they 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:38.960 sign a one good face is really really important. I mean, 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:41.480 I'll give you a small example. There was an apartment 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:45.080 above a bodega that turns into a nightclub every single 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:47.760 night until four in the morning. Why would a landlord 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:51.160 want a tenant to move in not having access to 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:53.400 that information, right, that's not going to be a good 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:55.600 a good starting point for the relationship. So that's really 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:58.800 what we're after is bringing these two sides together and 0:02:58.800 --> 0:02:59.960 giving them access to information. 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:03.840 Now, when you have the owners of the buildings, and 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:06.520 there was the ones that didn't want to participate in 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:09.000 your program, they don't want to cooperate it in any way. 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:12.040 That led me to think, among other things, of what's 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:15.359 the number one complaint that renters have in New York 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:16.840 about the buildings they are And I'm going to assume 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:17.240 it's heat. 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:19.840 Heat is a huge one, especially in the weather that 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:22.040 we're having in New York City right now, record weather 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:25.600 exactly seventy percent of buildings in New York City rely 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:27.680 on the landlord to turn on the heat. We also 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:30.120 have really old housing stock in New York City, so 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:34.320 we're using steamed radiators that haven't been maintained in you know, 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:36.680 in decades. So this is a real challenge that even 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:39.040 if the heat is working in the building, your apartment 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:41.120 might feel like asauna. Right, it's one hundred degrees in 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:43.360 your apartment. So definitely heat is a number one complaint 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:44.080 amongst runters. 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:47.480 Now, when I would assume that New Yorkers, or the 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:51.200 political consciousness of New York as it's expressed during elections 0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:54.360 and what the candidates say, they care deeply about housing 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:57.200 and the lack thereof, would you say that that's true. 0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:00.560 New Yorkers want us to do something about the house situation, 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:03.200 and not just the ones you need it affordable house Exactly. 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:05.800 There are five and a half million renters in New 0:04:05.840 --> 0:04:09.320 York City, sixty five percent of the city rents their home, 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:12.800 and there just simply isn't enough housing. And then you 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:15.640 also look at the affordability of the housing that does exist. 0:04:16.160 --> 0:04:19.039 Thirty percent of New York City renter, the majority of 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:21.359 New York City renters spend more than thirty percent of 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:24.320 their income on rent. Another thirty percent of New York 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:26.800 City renter is spend over fifty percent of their income 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:29.960 on rent. So this is considered a very severely rent 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:33.560 burdened city, and it needs to be a holistic solution 0:04:33.720 --> 0:04:37.159 that includes building housing, but also smart policy that's going 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:39.160 to keep renters housed in the long run. 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:41.920 Are you heartened by mom Donnie becoming the mayor? 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:45.719 You know, I'm excited that he really focused on housing 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:49.159 affordability as a pillar of his campaign, and he really 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:51.680 spoke to the hearts of New Yorkers, which is this 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:54.520 is something we're struggling with every single month when we 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:57.599 write that rent check. And I'm excited that he seems 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:00.400 to be really focused on solving this problem. 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:03.440 I remember when I was young, I would come into 0:05:03.440 --> 0:05:05.320 New York and we would get the Village Voice there 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:08.000 was no internet, and look for ass in the real 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:11.400 estate market. Go to the apartment, stand in line. The 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:14.320 line's a block long. I'm ever forget. I'm on Bleaker Street. 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:17.880 I walk into the studio and all the walls are 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:21.320 peeling off, the plasters pill you see the last inside 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:24.640 you can see the laugh inside the wood framing, inside 0:05:24.680 --> 0:05:27.000 the walls. Everything, the paint is peeling. The thing is 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:29.760 a mess, and there's like a box, a wooden box 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:33.560 resemble the steam trunk. But then you look closer, there 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:36.800 was drawers there. They just had the frame unpainted and 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:38.479 you put a mattress on top, I guess, or some 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:40.480 piece of pham. And I walk up to the guy 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:43.320 and they wanted like back then, they wanted some you know, 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:45.359 I don't remember. It was like, let's say it's fifteen 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:48.240 hundred dollars for something that should have cost half that. 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:50.760 I look at the guy. Because of the neighborhood, obviously 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:52.279 there's a line of people, and I say to the guy, 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:54.320 you gotta be kidding me. I looked him right in 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:57.240 the face. You're charging fifteen hundred dollars to this. He goes. 0:05:57.440 --> 0:05:59.640 You come back at four o'clock, it'll be gone. And 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:02.760 that was the reality of it. I learned right away 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:04.960 your apartment. How did you find your apartment? 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:09.560 I found my apartment by standing outside of the building 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:12.680 waiting for people walking in and out, asking them if 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:15.559 they liked the building. So my New York City rental 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:18.839 story not as exciting as yours. But I lived in 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:22.160 apartments that were not well maintained, landlords that never picked 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:24.360 up the phone when something went wrong. So whenever I 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:26.760 would apartment hunt, I wanted to do more research. I 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:28.640 would just stand outside of buildings. I would wait for 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:30.320 people walking in and out, saying do you live here? 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:32.760 How's the landlord? Should I move in? And I got 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:35.359 a lot of really valuable information from doing that, and 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:38.120 that's ultimately how I found my apartment. I got good 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:40.120 reviews from the people that were walking out. And this 0:06:40.240 --> 0:06:42.600 was really the light bulb moment to start opening glow, 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:45.640 which is, can we build a platform to crowdsource this 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:48.960 rental feedback, couple it with city data, and give renters 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:51.280 their own background check on a building and landlord in 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:53.280 the same way that renters have to put together one 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:56.240 hundred page application to get an apartment in New York City. 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:58.640 So that's how I found my apartment. It's rent stabilized, 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:00.800 it's in Brooklyn. I've lived there for many years and 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:02.599 don't have plans to leave anytime soon. 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:05.040 Where are they doing it better? What city are they 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:08.360 doing it better? Because you hear about housing crises all over, 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:11.720 particularly San Francisco, because of the tech world pricing all 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:14.400 that housing. Where's the city that you think is getting 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:16.000 it more right than wrong? 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:18.760 Oh my goodness, it's a great it's a great question. 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:21.440 And I think that New York is not unique in 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:24.200 being a city that struggles with their housing. You look 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:26.640 at San Francisco, you look at La you even look 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:29.640 at Miami that had a lot of influx of new 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:34.520 new renters during COVID. This is a global issue with 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:37.480 metropolitan cities. Even if you look at case studies in Europe, 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:40.400 which you know in Vienna or Berlin or even Paris, 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:44.480 cities that have really strong rent regulation, they're also struggling 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:47.120 to keep up with the population growth and grow the 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:49.960 housing stock. So I think this is something that's really universal. 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:53.720 It's the medium and smaller cities that are that are 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:56.160 doing better, like a Boston or a DC. 0:07:56.680 --> 0:07:57.480 How's Toronto. 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:01.240 Toronto also is having a lot of challenges. A lot 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:05.040 of their housing stock is new, brand new condos, luxury 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:08.400 condos where rents are just too expensive and your average 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:11.000 working class family can't even afford to move into the 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:13.760 new housing that's being constructed. So this is this is 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:16.040 definitely a global issue across the gambit. 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:20.040 I see those huge buildings on the south end of 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:24.480 the park. I see those enormous pencil like buildings they 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:27.240 put up in recent ears to the ugliest buildings I've 0:08:27.240 --> 0:08:28.120 ever seen in New York. 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:30.320 And they have their own construction issues. There was the 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:33.000 story of the match Tick building on Park Avenue where 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:36.880 the garbage shoot, the garbage velocity, yes, exactly, it was 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:40.800 just exploding. And you know, people spend tens of millions 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:42.120 of dollars on those apartments. 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:44.280 So one thing that comes to mind is I hear, 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:47.720 maybe just in my head, the wording of people who 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:50.880 are opposed to the work you do. They're totally market driven, 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:52.719 and they're going to sit there and say, why does 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:55.600 New York owe everybody a place to live here? Like 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:58.160 once we reach where we are and there's a I mean, 0:08:58.160 --> 0:09:02.080 I'm all for rend control, stabilization, but the idea that 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:03.960 we owe everybody a house, why don't they just go 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:07.840 somewhere else. There's no room, it's done, it's filled up 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:10.120 for now, and unless they build other things, what do 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:10.840 you say to them? 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:14.440 You know, I have a very firm belief that there 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:18.200 are some things that are human rights, and housing is 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:22.160 one of them, and housing is something that permeates into 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:25.200 all aspects of our society. If people do not have 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:28.480 stable housing, they're not going to have access to education, 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:31.319 They're not going to have access to economic opportunity. Housing 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:35.720 is really the foundation to living in a successful society. 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:38.280 And you'll talk to some of these free market capitalists 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:41.200 that also share that belief that you should not be 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:46.199 able to charge whatever you want on housing, education, or healthcare. 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:48.920 These are things that are extremely sacred that need to 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:51.680 have some sort of regulation. New York City has always 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:53.600 been a place where people want to live, that people 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:56.120 move from all over the world, and we need to 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:58.880 make sure that we are accommodating the spirit and culture 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:00.679 and the history of New York City. 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:03.480 You function, I'm sure the fees that are paid to 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:06.280 you by your clients, if you will, that doesn't cover 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:09.679 all the costs, correct, correct? So you get funding from 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:12.000 where we do. We're a venture back to startup, right, 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:13.280 and where does the money come from? 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:17.240 So we have monetization models, but we also have venture 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:20.200 capital investors that also believe in this mission of rental 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:22.559 transparency that has provided funding to us. 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:25.560 You did a lot of things in your career, Yes, 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:30.040 before you did this, and I'm assuming you did fairly well. 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:32.760 You win all these money. My friends who do finance 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:35.640 or whatever it is, as a matter of treasure anything, 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:37.839 I just called them. They're in money. I said, yes, 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:39.679 just make my life simpler because I can't keep track 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:42.280 of all these different offshoots. But you did that. Do 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:43.800 you miss it or do you still do it? Are 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:45.400 you still an entrepreneur in the way that you were 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:46.600 before opening clip? 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:49.880 I am an entrepreneur full time with Open a Glue, 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:53.920 and I do miss my prior stints. I worked in banking, 0:10:54.000 --> 0:10:57.040 I worked in venture capital, investing in startups, working on 0:10:57.080 --> 0:10:59.240 a trading floor. My first job out of college was 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:01.360 working in Wall Street. That's what brought me to New 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:05.000 York City to begin with. And there's something fun about 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:08.440 the pace and also just the learning. Right When you 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:10.520 work in that type of environment, you're reading the news. 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:13.040 You're reading about what's going on in all corners of 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:16.440 all corners of the world. And I loved that about 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:17.920 the job. But I do that now in my work 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:22.040 with Openeglo. I love staying on top of what is 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:24.280 going on in our city, what is going on in 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:27.360 city politics, what is going on in the housing space, 0:11:27.400 --> 0:11:30.280 what is on renters' minds, and taking all of that 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:33.120 knowledge to build a platform that hopefully is going to 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:35.400 make New York City better in the long run. What 0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:38.720 we're seeing now, just a few years into building Open Agloo, 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:42.320 is that landlords are changing their behavior. They're actually taking 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:46.080 care of their buildings because they're realizing that the transparency 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:48.200 that we're putting in, the spotlight we're putting on them 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:51.920 means they're losing clients. They're not signing leases as fast 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:54.520 as they once were because renters are looking at the 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:56.240 reviews and saying, well, I don't want to pay four 0:11:56.280 --> 0:11:58.439 thousand dollars a month to live here. You don't take 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:00.600 care of your renters that you have right now. So 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:03.320 we're starting to see that impact, and that's really what 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:04.840 I'm excited to continue to focus on. 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:07.679 Not in all things, but I tend to view when 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:10.240 I was reading about you and your work, I tend 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:12.720 to view it like other things, where you're doing jobs 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:16.200 the government ought to be doing. You're providing a service, 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:18.960 and you're providing a reality to people that is a 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:22.000 business the government might have been in to provide transparency, 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:22.360 and so. 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:26.400 Farth transparency and also informing renters about their rights. So 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:30.400 rent stabilization is a big policy that impacts millions of 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:33.560 New Yorkers. There's nearly a million rent stabilized apartments, and 0:12:33.600 --> 0:12:36.680 we ask renters when they're reviewing their landlords and buildings, 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:38.439 do you live in a stabilized apartment? 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:39.560 Yes? No? 0:12:40.000 --> 0:12:44.000 Not sure? Thirty five percent of our users check not sure, 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:47.040 and that breaks my heart. That means that there are 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:49.280 hundreds of thousands of renters who probably live in a 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:52.080 stabilized apartment and don't even know it. And having this 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:55.600 type of protection means your rent increases are limited and 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:58.000 you are entitled to a renewal. The landlord cannot ask 0:12:58.000 --> 0:13:00.600 you to leave. So big mission at O BINEGLO has 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:03.520 been sharing this information, trying to trying to get the 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:06.720 work done. Believe absolutely, it's devastating when you when you 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:08.720 think about the old school New Yorkers and we all 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:11.080 know one or two of them that are living in 0:13:11.120 --> 0:13:13.720 a five hundred dollars rent controlled apartment on the Upper 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:17.200 West Side. Those are because those renters knew their rights 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:20.520 right and they stayed in that apartment for their entire lives, 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:23.280 and as a result, they're able to stay and live 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:25.240 in the city comfortably, and I want to make sure 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:27.640 as many renters know about those rights as possible. 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:35.480 Open igloo co founder and CEO Alia Mohammad. If you 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:39.200 enjoy conversations about the heart of New York City, check 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:42.480 out my episode with WNYC's Brian Larra. 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:45.760 People have said to me, oh, your show is the 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:51.160 opposite of Rush Limbaugh. And it's not because he's conservative 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:55.640 and I'm liberal. It's because he makes no secret about 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:59.240 the shows about what he thinks. For me, I have opinions. 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:03.400 I sometimes state my opinions, or I sometimes frame questions 0:14:03.440 --> 0:14:06.840 in a leading way that suggests an opinion. But the 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:10.160 show is not about what I think. So if I'm 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:13.080 expressing a point of view, which I'm allowed to do 0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:16.400 on the show, but if I do express an opinion, 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:20.280 it's in the context of, Okay, this is what I think. Now, 0:14:20.480 --> 0:14:24.720 everybody else who agrees or disagrees, come on in and 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:26.800 let's have a meaningful conversation about it. 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:32.680 To hear more of my conversation with Brian Lehrer, go 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:37.880 to Here's Thething dot org. After the break, Alia discusses 0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:42.119 her hopes for New York City housing plans under Mayor Mumdani. 0:14:52.200 --> 0:14:55.840 I'm Alec Baldwin, and this is here's the thing. As 0:14:55.960 --> 0:15:00.680 the affordable housing crisis swells across the United States, New 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:04.920 York City leads the way with its unaffordable market for renters. 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:09.720 The newly elected Mayor Zoran Mamdani aims to freeze the 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:13.440 rents on the one million rent stabilized apartments in New 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:17.600 York City. As the terms are often conflated, I wanted 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:21.640 Ali Mohammad to explain the difference between rent controlled and 0:15:21.720 --> 0:15:22.840 rent stabilized. 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:28.720 So rent stabilized is typically buildings that were built before 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:32.880 nineteen seventy four that have six or more units, and 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:37.840 rent controlled are very specific units that were built before 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:41.080 nineteen forty seven, where there I might get the years 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:43.560 wrong one or two, but built before nineteen forty seven 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:47.400 where there has been a continuous tenant since nineteen seventy one. 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:50.880 So if you've lived in your apartment since nineteen seventy 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:53.520 one and the building was built before nineteen forty seven, 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:56.120 you might have a rent control department. Now, there's only 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:59.040 about sixteen thousand rent control departments left in New York City, 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:02.360 and that's because when that continuous tenant who most likely 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:05.960 passes away that rent control department converts into a rent 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:09.160 stabilized apartment. So that's just a different regulation status, but 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:11.960 they have many of the similar protections that the rent 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:15.160 control departments are going to be. Those eighty dollars apartments 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:19.320 in Manhattan, and the rent stabilized apartments are not necessarily affordable, 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:21.040 and I think this is a common myth in New York. 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:21.400 City as well. 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:26.360 So rent stabilized is just giving you protections against really 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:29.560 crazy rent increases, and it protects you against the landlord saying, oh, 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:31.720 I'm not renewing you. You have to leave. That's all 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:35.160 rent stabilization does, but it doesn't mean affordable. The most 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:38.560 expensive rent stabilized apartment on record is fifty thousand dollars 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:41.760 a month per month, and that is because over the 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:44.600 years there have been these tax abatement programs. For example, 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:47.240 where developers build a building they don't have to pay 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:50.160 property taxes for thirty forty years if they make the 0:16:50.160 --> 0:16:53.200 building rent stabilized. So it's still very common that you 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:56.280 will see, you know, these units in Hudson Yards that 0:16:56.320 --> 0:16:59.240 are rent stabilized, but you do have those protections against 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:00.400 large rent increases. 0:17:01.240 --> 0:17:03.640 Now many many people come in I'm talking about the 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:06.439 mayor's race in Mondani and they come in and they 0:17:06.440 --> 0:17:09.280 have a lot of hopes and they advertise a lot 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:11.600 about what they intend to do. What do you think 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:14.040 that's achievable? From Mom, Donnie, what would you like to 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:14.520 see him do? 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:18.320 I would love to see his plan of building two 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:20.679 hundred thousand affordable units in New York City where they 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:23.920 go all across the five boroughs. No neighborhood is going 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:27.280 to be immune from getting affordable units built. And this 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:29.840 has been one of the biggest debates in New York City. Oh, 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:32.719 we don't want an affordable housing unit building in Soho. 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:35.320 We don't want affordable housing built on the Upper West Side. 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:37.360 We really need to come together as a community. 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:39.320 See a lot of affordable housing on the Upper West 0:17:39.320 --> 0:17:42.080 Side now as it is, there's a lot of housing authority. 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:43.359 I lived on a I used to live in the 0:17:43.400 --> 0:17:47.080 El Dorado for twenty years and in that West nineties 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:49.159 area there was a lot of public housing. 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:52.280 There is, but there's not enough. When you look at 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:55.399 how the city has grown, and the vacancy rate in 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:59.000 New York City is sub two percent, There's not enough housing. 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:00.879 So I would like to see those two hundred thousand 0:18:00.920 --> 0:18:03.840 units built all across the city in the places where 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:06.840 it's going to have the most impact. Right now, there's 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:08.840 challenges and need to make sure if you build those homes, 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:12.720 there's infrastructure to support it, schools, transportation, all of those things. 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:15.439 But if he can really execute on this vision, the 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:17.240 city is going to be in a much better place 0:18:17.280 --> 0:18:18.000 than when it started. 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:21.080 You look at the city and you say, going in 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:25.520 across all five burroughs, and I'm assuming there's some watchdogs 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:28.359 groups like your own similar where the mission is to 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:31.480 locate where more likely could that go? You either have 0:18:31.520 --> 0:18:36.040 to identify a insignificant amount of open land that's there 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:40.000 to build houses on within reason, or you're going to 0:18:40.000 --> 0:18:44.280 tear something down. When Columbia decided to expand their campus 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:46.760 and they went and bought all these muffler shops or 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:49.200 whatever was up there adjacent to them and ripped everything down, 0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:51.639 ripped down like a whole block, yep. And they're going 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:54.680 to do like the wall and have more wall and everything, 0:18:54.800 --> 0:18:57.960 you know, their campus, their private campus. Where do you 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:01.120 think the housing can be built quickest? 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:03.560 Yeah, it's a great question. Even you know to your 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:06.600 comment about Columbia, they have a very dark history when 0:19:06.640 --> 0:19:10.240 it comes to their expansion and displacing communities. I think 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:12.160 we need to be really intentional that if we're going 0:19:12.160 --> 0:19:15.040 to be aggressive with this plan to build housing, it 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:18.080 needs to make sure it's taking into consideration the wants 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:21.400 of the community. Give you an example in Bedstide, there 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:23.920 was a project to build an affordable housing building in 0:19:23.960 --> 0:19:27.200 a parking lot beside a church, and there were protests 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:29.800 and people were upset about this. How could you build 0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:31.640 this beside the church. We weren't tearing down the church 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:33.800 or anything like that. This was a vacant parking lot 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:36.320 that hadn't been used. And there are places like that 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:38.399 all across the city. My friends and family hate me 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:40.240 because every time we're walking somewhere in New York, I'm like, 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:42.720 that could be housing. That could be housing. This could 0:19:42.720 --> 0:19:46.359 be housing. It's abandoned parking lots, even in Manhattan. So 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:49.440 I think that there's a lot of opportunities to build 0:19:49.440 --> 0:19:53.639 the housing that we need without displacing or changing, you know, 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:55.800 the culture and facade of the neighborhoods that we hold. 0:19:55.800 --> 0:19:57.879