Mark Furman, a property manager with decades of experience in affordable housing, has highlighted the financial challenges facing rent-stabilized buildings in New York City. Furman began his career at a nonprofit in Madison, Wisconsin, where he helped affordable housing residents take over and manage their own buildings using federal funds such as Section 8. While the initial renovation work was adequately funded by the government, ongoing maintenance needs were not met due to restricted rents and insufficient reserves.
Furman explained via email, “The staff provided guidance and support — helping develop budgets, working with residents to identify maintenance needs. It was a great model and I loved helping folks take control of a small corner of their own lives. But it ultimately failed.” He noted that “there simply was not enough money in reserves or other funding available to fix the structural and capital problems that are inevitable with any real estate, let alone renovated older properties,” citing issues like roofs, HVAC systems, and old pipes.
Now managing 38 rent-stabilized buildings in Spanish Harlem on behalf of a lender foreclosing on the properties, Furman described similar problems in New York. The owner had stopped investing in upkeep but still could not meet mortgage obligations for the 900-unit portfolio. According to Furman, “We are just trying to keep the units habitable and operational while the lender seeks to gain title and then dispose of the properties to offset its losses.”
Even without debt service payments, Furman said rental revenue is often inadequate: “It is often hard to cover basic operating costs, taxes, and rising insurance premiums for many of the buildings given the restricted rents, let alone try to address years and years of deferred maintenance on boilers, roofs, pipes, gas lines, cameras, etc.”
He added: “My staff and I respond as quickly as possible to problems with failing boilers, rotting gas lines, decaying roofs, moldy bathrooms with inadequate ventilation, but the litany of problems in these long-neglected properties is staggering.”
Furman’s comments come amid Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s push for policies such as freezing rents on stabilized apartments. The mayor has criticized landlords for poor building conditions and held public hearings about so-called “rental ripoffs.” However, Furman argues that low regulated rents make it impossible for owners or managers to maintain aging properties adequately.
Mamdani’s strategies have included proposals to devalue distressed rent-stabilized buildings to reduce debt service requirements and transfer them to nonprofits exempt from property taxes. Despite expressing interest in working with real estate professionals publicly, there is no indication Mamdani has consulted managers like Furman.
Furman’s management efforts landed him on Public Advocate Jumaane Williams’ list of “worst landlords,” even though he does not own the implicated properties; they are owned by Isaac Kassirer with financing from Sabal Capital.
“I guarantee that we are doing much better than the last group that owned these apartments,” Furman wrote. “But it is going to take more than patching them up to ensure long-term stability for these units. It requires a significant capital improvement plan that the restricted rents cannot support on their own.”
Reflecting on his experience with affordable housing models reliant solely on market mechanisms or government mandates without adequate funding solutions for long-term repairs or improvements—and referencing political rhetoric—Furman concluded: “I have heard it said that Republicans like to privatize profits and socialize costs. Mamdani is the inverse, it seems, seeking to privatize the social costs of affordable housing. It will not work.”
