The housing official appointed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani to lead the revived Mayor’s Office of Tenant Protection in New York City previously said, “White, middle-class homeowners are a major problem for a tenant justice movement” and argued that organizers must “undermine the institution of homeownership,” during a 2021 podcast appearance.
Cea Weaver, who was appointed director of the Mayor’s Office of Tenant Protection on Jan. 1 through an executive order signed by Mamdani, made the comments during a September 2021 episode of the “Bad Faith Podcast“as we discuss eviction policies and tenant organizational strategies.
The comments have drawn renewed attention as Weaver now has formal executive authority over tenant policy and enforcement in New York City.
Her appointment was announced on Mamdani’s first day in office as part of a series of executive actions to revitalize the mayor’s office to protect tenants. according to city hall.
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During the podcast, Weaver argued that resistance to progressive reforms often comes not from large business owners, but from homeowners.
“I think the reality is that many of the people pushing back on the eviction moratorium and more rent subsidies are not commercial landlords,” Weaver said. “They are homeowners who feel like an eviction moratorium is an attack on their rights as property owners.”
She added that this opposition poses a challenge to housing organizers, saying, “White, middle-class homeowners are a major problem for the tenant justice movement.”
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New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a press conference with Cea Weaver, January 1, in New York. (Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office via AP)
Later in the conversation, Weaver said that homeownership has become the main source of stability in the U.S. because of gaps in social programs, but argued that structure itself is an obstacle to housing activism.
“Unless we can undermine the institution of homeownership and provide stability in other ways, it’s a very difficult organizational situation we’re in,” she said.
Weaver viewed evictions as a matter of power rather than an economic issue, and said landlords resisted the idea that tenants could continue to live in properties they “consider owning.”
Cea Weaver walks through the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY Weaver has been appointed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani as his new director of the city’s Office to Protect Tenants. (Gregory P. Mango)
In the same podcast, Weaver endorsed policies including universal rent control, the right to form tenant associations, blocking evictions, and funding rental assistance through higher taxes on the wealthy. She also argued that broader government programs could erode homeownership by providing stability in other ways.
Weaver has also criticized previous social media posts criticizing white homeownership. In an August 2019 post on
In a tweet about her since-deleted X account, Mamdani tenant director Cea Weaver called homeownership a “weapon of white supremacy.” (Fox News)
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On her first day on the job, Weaver announced alongside Mamdani that the city would intervene in the bankruptcy proceedings of Pinnacle Group, a landlord that City Hall says is involved in housing violations and complaints.
Fox News Digital reached out to the mayor’s press office with questions about whether Mamdani stands behind Weaver’s 2021 comments, but did not receive a response by publication.
Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.
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