Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s first report card shows his grandiose socialist promises to be a savior for the working class leave much to be desired, as two of his biggest priorities – affordable housing and free childcare – have fallen short of their targets.
One of his core campaign planks during the 2025 race was promising free child care for kids under age 5 citywide. However, the number of New York City schoolchildren enrolled in the city’s 3-K program slipped to 43,678 in fiscal year 2026, down from 44,729 in the prior fiscal year, according to the September 2026 Mayor’s Management Report (MMR) released Thursday.
Enrollment in the 3-K program fell short of the administration’s own target of 45,454.
Meanwhile, in the city’s free pre-K program, fiscal 2026 enrollment was 55,042 — lower than last year’s 56,950 and considerably less than the administration’s 59,250 target.
Mamdani officials explained the drops in enrollment noted in MMR “could be attributed to a disinvestment in family outreach under the last administration, as well as demographic changes including a decrease in birth rate and families leaving the city.”
They assured that new investments by the administration “will likely have an impact in the 2026-2027 school year.”
When it comes to housing, the report also shines a light on the considerable ground Mamdani needs to make up to make good on his lofty goals announced for city-financed housing construction and presentation.
In May, he put forth a target 200,000 new affordable homes created over a decade and 200,000 more preserved.
However, over fiscal year 2026, the city financed just 26,913 affordable homes, a nearly 7% slide from the previous year, according to data in the MMR.
Hizzoner has also pledged to speed up the city’s lottery for leasing affordable units, but early figures show just 26% of affordable housing lottery projects managed to complete applicant approvals in six months or less, a steep decline over last year’s 41%.
The mandatory report covers fiscal 2026, which spanned the first six months of Mamdani’s administration and the last six months of former Mayor Eric Adams’ term.
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