Mayor Mamdani backs developer evicting eight tenants despite anti-eviction pledge

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has directed city housing contracts to Spatial Equity, a developer currently pursuing the removal of at least eight tenants from the Shepherd Glenmore affordable-housing complex in Cypress Hills, according to court filings. The $61 million, 123-unit building, completed in July 2025, is the sole occupied asset held by the firm, which is led by Teghvir Sethi. Mamdani is also supporting Sethi’s proposal to acquire a 38-building, 887-unit distressed portfolio in East Harlem and has enlisted Spatial Equity to co-develop a 131-unit project on the Lower East Side.

While the mayor has repeatedly pledged to keep tenants in their homes and his housing adviser, Cea Weaver, has urged the abolition of evictions, the developer’s actions appear at odds with those commitments. Councilman Phil Wong condemned the apparent hypocrisy, noting the mayor’s past attacks on landlords and promises of tenant protections. Spatial Equity markets itself as a minority-owned affordable-housing developer, and its principal has spoken at a Federal Reserve Bank panel alongside city officials, emphasizing a “do-gooder” stance against market-rate landlords. City Hall and the developer did not respond to requests for comment.