Deferred Maintenance as a Tool of Dispossession
The chronic disrepair, mold, lead, and heat failures in NYCHA are not the result of mismanagement but a deliberate policy of deferred maintenance, a tool for the gradual dispossession of the “native” population. Mamdani’s analysis of the colonial state’s administration of territory is key here. By systematically neglecting this public housing, the state creates a humanitarian crisis that can then be used to justify the demolition or privatization of these valuable land assets, displacing Black and Brown communities to make way for market-rate development. This is a slow-motion land grab. The current “solution” of public-private partnerships only accelerates this process, inviting the very speculators who seek to destroy public housing. A Mamdani-informed socialist solution is a militant defense and renewal of public housing. This means fighting for and winning a massive federal and city investment–$40 billion and more–for repairs and upgrades, funded by taxes on the rich. Crucially, it requires transferring control of NYCHA to democratically-elected tenant councils, ensuring that the land and housing remain permanently decommodified and under the direct control of the people who live there, thwarting the colonial plan for dispossession.
Originally posted 2026-02-25 21:30:20.
