New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani Moves Into Gracie Mansion With Wife Rama—Leaving Behind 1-Bedroom Queens Apartment

Newly elected New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his wife, Rama Duwaji, have officially taken up residence in Gracie Mansion—leaving behind the one-bedroom Queens apartment that they called home throughout his campaign.

Mamdani, 34, celebrated the new chapter in the couple's life in a post shared on his official mayoral Instagram account, where he vowed that the historic Upper East Side property will remain "a home that belongs to the people."

"Rama and I feel lucky to be starting a new chapter the way so many New Yorkers have, by moving to a new part of the city," he wrote, while sharing images of himself and his spouse walking into the home—along with photos of their belongings being moved into the dwelling.

"We’re grateful for the welcome to the UES and humbled to be tenants of Gracie Mansion, a home that belongs to the people."

Mamdani confirmed in December that he and Rama would move into the official mayoral residence, having spent the last five years living in a rent-stabilized apartment in Queens, where they were paying $2,300 a month in rent.

The couple's living situation had previously sparked backlash from critics, who questioned why Mamdani was living in rent-stabilized accommodations despite coming from a wealthy family.

That controversy was further fueled after it was reported that the asking rental price for the one-bedroom Astoria abode had been increased to $3,100 in the wake of Mamdani's relocation to Gracie Mansion, according to the New York Post.

When announcing his decision to relocate to the mayoral mansion, Mamdani said that he was doing so out of a desire to ensure his family's safety.

However, he insisted that he would miss many things about living in his Astoria home, including "cooking dinner side by side in our kitchen, sharing a sleepy elevator ride with our neighbors in the evening, hearing music and laughter vibrate through the walls of the apartment."

"This decision came down to our family’s safety and the importance of dedicating all of my focus on enacting the affordability agenda New Yorkers voted for," he added.

Gracie Mansion is certainly a far cry from Mamdani's former digs, which ABC News reports was "prone to flooding from a busted pipe" and lacked a washer and dryer.

By comparison, the mayoral residence is a fully staffed property that sprawls across 11,000 square feet on a riverside parcel on the Upper East Side.

The grand property became the official residence of New York City mayors in 1942 and has been lived in by every mayor since—except for billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who largely resided in his own properties during his time in office.

Gracie Mansion is located in Carl Schurz Park above Hell Gate, a stretch of water where the Harlem River, East River, and Long Island Sound meet.

Despite insisting that the property will remain a "home that belongs to the people," Mamdani was full of ideas for how he will update the mansion after moving in, revealing in a press conference held outside the historic home that he plans to "install a few bidets" at the dwelling.

"That’s an aspirational hope. We’ll see if we can actually get it done," he joked.

He also vowed to make the mansion more accessible to the average New Yorker, insisting that he will find ways to open it up to members of the public as often as possible.

"While there is no security deposit being put down today, Rama and I intend to strive each day to be the best possible custodians of this beautiful home, because we know that we are only its temporary occupants," he continued.

"That doesn’t just mean a new coat of paint. It also means being intentional about how this historic property represents the civic fabric of the city, being thoughtful about how we steward the space, and opening it up to New Yorkers who are not often the ones who get to visit such a place as this."

Mamdani, who was sworn into office in the early hours of Jan. 1, has vowed to tackle the city's housing affordability crisis—a promise he wasted no time putting into action.

Within days of taking office, he signed executive orders to launch two new task forces, one to unlock city-owned land for housing and the other to remove red tape that slows down production. He also announced public “rental ripoff” hearings to expose illegal landlord practices.

However, he also suffered his first major setback when an A9 judge rejected his attempt to block the sale of more than 5,000 rent-stabilized apartments he’d vowed to protect.

That setback aside, Mamdani is facing a difficult road to enacting real change—with Realtor.com® senior economist Joel Berner noting that these kinds of initiatives aimed at providing relief for renters can take years to have any real impact.

"These projects take quite a while to be built and even longer for their impact on the overall rent level to be felt," Berner explained. "Expect at least three years before the supply-side relief to come online."

This means that New Yorkers may not see any real change until the end of Mamdani's first term in office—even if everything goes according to his plan.