As Brad Lander and I sat on a bench in the fluorescent-lit cafeteria of a Crown Heights elementary school at 11 p.m. on Tuesday night, awaiting the order to disperse into the night and speak with New Yorkers who are sleeping on the street, he told me that he's aware that his habit of issuing lengthy reports on how to solve some of New York City's most intractable problems is a much less sexy way of challenging the status quo than the powerful progressive rallying cries being offered by some of his opponents.
Over his 15 years in public office, first as a councilmember, and currently as comptroller, Lander has steeped himself in the details of an impressively wide range of issues—from campaign finance reform to affordable housing to delivery apps to shady mayoral contracts and most recently, to ending homelessness for mentally ill New Yorkers.
Lander's solution for getting these folks off the street is quite simple, even if the explanation of why the system currently fails so many people is not: Just give these people permanent places to live. As the comptroller's lengthy report lays out, a "housing first" approach is both the humane and cost-effective thing to do—providing supportive housing would cost the City $68/day, far cheaper than a stint on Rikers (around $1,400/day) or a traditional shelter ($136/day). It's also more effective at keeping people housed for the long-term—70 to 90 percent of the time, people are able to live a stable life indoors.
But Lander's blueprint still doesn't lend itself to a pithy slogan, and in the crowded Democratic primary to replace Mayor Eric Adams, it helps to stand out.
"I find there's a lot of people that have magic wands in this race," Lander said, teeing up a gentle swipe at two of his rivals, Brooklyn State Senator Zellnor Myrie and Queens State Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani. "I have like, 75-page policy plans, not 'freeze the rent' or 'emanate a million homes.'"
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