Fact Check: Did Mamdani announce the city will cover February’s rent for all New Yorkers?

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: A viral claim has been circulating on social media claiming Zohran Mamdani, the Mayor of New York City, has announced that the city will cover February’s rent for everyone in NY City. While many believe the claim to be true, others are sceptical about the authenticity of the claim. Let us examine the rumor and fact-check it.

Claim: NYC Mayor said the city will cover February rent for all New Yorkers

The rumor surfaced in a post on X on Sunday, January 25, on a popular page called Hoops Crave.

The post came with an image of the mayor accompanied by a caption that read, 'Mayor Zohran Mamdani announces the city will cover February’s rent for all New Yorkers.'

The claim has gone viral, garnering almost two million views and thousands of likes, with many in the comments appearing to believe the claim to be true.

Fact Check: Zohran Mamdani made no such announcement 

The claim, however, is false, as the page that posted it, Hoops Crave, is a parody account known for sharing satirical posts for entertainment purposes. 

The page’s bio states, 'Parody account not affiliated with @PopCrave.'

Searches on Google for relevant keywords also do not generate any appropriate results supporting the claim.

If the rumor was true, it would have been widely covered by major news media outlets. 

A fact check by Grok, the AI assistant of X, has also debunked the claim, stating, “No, this isn't true. The post is from a parody account (HoopsCrave), and searches of official NYC sources show no announcement about covering February rent for all New Yorkers."

"Mayor Mamdani has issued orders on tenant protections and housing, but nothing like this.”

Zohran Mamdani calls for a rent freeze

However, during his recent appearance on The View on Tuesday, he talked about fighting for the city's more than 2 million rent-stabilized tenants.

"For the last four years, all they have seen is that their rent has gone up, and up, and up more than 12%," Mamdani said.

"And I told those New Yorkers they deserve a rent freeze, they deserve to have the peace of mind to wake up one day, and that is what the Rent Guidelines Board can do, and we appoint every member to that board."