New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's top housing official once declared plans to make property "worth less" through the use of rent control.

The remark, resurfaced in a clip highlighted by The Washington Free Beacon's Jon Levine on X, comes from a 2021 podcast appearance by Cea Weaver, the newly installed executive director of the Mayor's Office to Protect Tenants, and is raising fresh alarms about the leftist direction of Mamdani's housing agenda.

"In a 2021 podcast appearance Cea Weaver said her goal was to make New York City housing 'worth less' through the use of rent control," Levine wrote, posting video of Weaver laying out her strategy.

In the clip, Weaver bluntly states, "Our goal is to have the housing actually be worth less," while arguing rent control can reduce what she calls the "speculative value" of land.

Mamdani, then a state assemblyman, appears alongside Weaver and nods as she speaks.

He then adds a revealing admission, "I get most of my knowledge on housing from Cea, so if you get it from me, it's just not coming from the source."

The Washington Free Beacon reported that Weaver made the comments on the "Bad Faith" podcast hosted by Briahna Joy Gray and framed rent control not merely as an affordability policy, but as a tool to intentionally undermine the value of real estate as an investment.

The resurfaced audio is only the latest controversy surrounding Weaver, whose history of inflammatory rhetoric has sparked backlash mere days into Mamdani's administration.

Weaver has faced criticism for old social media posts, some since deleted, that included calls to "seize private property" and described homeownership as a "weapon of white supremacy."

One post advocated "impoverish[ing] the white middle class," while others argued the country should treat property as a "collective good" rather than an individual right.

Mamdani has refused to back down, defending Weaver's appointment and praising her record as a tenant activist.

Weaver, for her part, told a local TV station some of her past posts were "regretful" and "not something I would say today," while insisting she wants housing to be safe and affordable "whether they rent or own."

But the controversy has already drawn scrutiny from Washington.

A Justice Department civil rights official, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, warned City Hall that discrimination is illegal regardless of who is targeted.

Dhillon said the department is "paying very close attention" after Weaver's past statements about property and race resurfaced, placing Mamdani's administration "on notice" against race-based governance.

Critics argue the bigger issue is not just Weaver's past posts but what they reveal about the ideology now guiding New York City housing policy.

Mamdani has vowed "unprecedented" action against landlords, including proposals that would pressure property owners to sell to the city if they cannot pay fines, and policies that could expand rent regulation.

For New Yorkers already grappling with sky-high costs, a push to deliberately make housing "worth less" may not lower prices so much as punish owners, drive investment out of the city, and further destabilize neighborhoods — all while empowering government and activist groups to reshape property rights from the top down.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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