Governing for Affordability

This event is at capacity for in-person attendance. RSVP to join online.

Nearly a year after the Mamdani campaign vaulted affordability into its secure place as a watchword for national democratic politics, this convening will bring together key thinkers and government officials to debate and assess what it has meant in NYC and its relevance for policymaking across the country.

9:00am – 9:05am: Welcome

9:05am – 9:20am: Opening Remarks by Elle Bisgaard-Church, Chief of Staff to the Mayor, NYC

9:20am – 10:35am: Defining the Affordability Agenda: Tools for Cost of Living Policy

Across approaches, four distinct levers for achieving affordability have come to the fore: direct price controls, supply-side interventions, pro-competitive and pro-consumer regulatory changes, and direct public provision of goods and services. This panel brings together three panelists at the forefront of this conversation to discuss and debate the relative merits and costs of each strategy, and how they complement or conflict with one another.

Panelists: 

• Lina Khan, Chair of the New York City Economic Development Corporation and former Chair of the US Federal Trade Commission
• Isabella Weber, Professor of Economics at UMass Amherst and author of forthcoming book Anti-Fascist Economics: In Defense of Affordability, Dignity, and Democracy
• Zachary Liscow, Yale Law Professor and former Chief Economist at the Office of Management and Budget
• moderated by Emily Eisner, Executive Director and Chief Economist of the Fiscal Policy Institute and New York City Policy Forum Co-Lead

10:35am – 11:00am: Break

11:00am – 12:15pm: Delivering an Agenda for Affordability

It is one thing to discuss the levers of affordability in the abstract, and another to put them into practice. This panel will draw on the direct experiences of those spearheading the Mayor’s agenda to discuss what price regulation, direct provision of goods and services, supply-side interventions, and consumer and worker protections look like on the ground. How are policy makers intervening and reshaping the market structure of key cost drivers in housing, childcare, and groceries? How is regulatory action and policy delivery creating real material benefits for everyday New Yorkers? Looking beyond the initial months of the Mamdani administration, the panelists will also discuss what the experience of this past year might tell us about the pursuit of affordability going forward in New York City and across the country.

Panelists:

• Samuel Levine, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection
• Leila Bozorg, Deputy Mayor of New York City for Housing and Planning
• Emmy Liss, Executive Director of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Child Care
• Errol Schweizer, NYC Public Grocery Stores Consultant for the New York City Economic Development Corporation
• moderated by Alex Hertel-Fernandez, Columbia Professor of Government