Interview: “New York City Is the Greatest Immigrant City in the World,” Comptroller Brad Lander

In the episode of the Community Cornerstone podcast, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander joins Suresh Shahi for an insightful conversation with the Nepali community media outlet Khasokhas. In a candid discussion, Lander delves into the important work his office is doing to engage with immigrant communities, address financial transparency, and safeguard services critical to neighborhoods with large immigrant populations. From tackling the challenges of rising housing costs to ensuring workers’ rights are protected, Lander shares his vision for a more inclusive, equitable New York City that works for all, including the growing Nepali community. This interview text has been slightly edited for clarity.

Given the financial challenges brought on by COVID-19 and other factors, what steps is the Controller’s Office taking this fiscal year to ensure the public has access to accurate information about financial resources and support?

The Nepali community is such an important part of New York City. They bring a rich diversity, hardworking people, delicious food, and great culture. It’s an honor. We just got to celebrate Diwali and Tihar together in Southeast Queens, and it’s an honor to have you here.

We’re focused, first and foremost, on the issues that matter to the pocketbooks of New Yorkers. This includes housing, as housing prices are through the roof, and what the city can do to ensure people can find affordable housing. This was a major effort we fought for in the city budget this year. I’m pleased that we were able to secure $2 billion to invest in affordable homes for New Yorkers.

The City Council voted on the City of Yes program, which will allow the building of new homes in many of our neighborhoods. One of the programs within this initiative was primarily pushed by the South Asian group, Chhaya. In terms of fiscal priorities, we first think about what New Yorkers’ fiscal priorities are—things like the cost of housing, the cost of transit, and the cost of childcare. We’re working on all of these issues in our office, winning more money for affordable housing, securing investments in the subways, and looking into expanding childcare options so that hardworking New Yorkers can manage the crushing cost of living, which affects everyone but particularly our immigrant communities.

With housing prices skyrocketing, what policies do you support to make housing more affordable, particularly for immigrant communities such as the Nepali community? What specific initiatives are you prioritizing?

There are three main things here. First, we need to build more housing for people, as there is simply not enough housing in New York City. The City Council approved something called the City of Yes program to allow the construction of more housing in all neighborhoods. One part of this initiative was pushed by the South Asian organization Chhaya CDC, which works on housing for immigrant homeowners, particularly Nepali, Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi New Yorkers. They’ve suggested that if you have a home with a garage in the backyard, you should be able to convert that into a housing unit.

Or, if you can make your basement unit safe and legal, that can also become an accessory dwelling unit (ADU). The Council took action to make that possible in more neighborhoods, and I hope this will lead to more homes for Nepalis and others. That’s the first thing.

The second is funding. The city needs to allocate more money to make housing affordable. In last year’s city budget, we fought for and won $2 billion to invest in building new affordable housing.

The third thing is that we promised the city would ensure that any tenant facing eviction would have access to a lawyer. No one should be thrown out of their home without legal representation. Providing a lawyer reduces evictions by 40% and allows people to negotiate agreements. The city promised to provide these lawyers, but we are failing to do so. My office is working to make sure we meet that promise and provide attorneys to everyone because no one should face homelessness without someone looking out for them.

Homelessness remains a significant issue in New York City, with numbers continuing to rise, especially among immigrant communities. What is your plan to address this growing concern? Additionally, many immigrants face language barriers that make securing housing more difficult. What steps is your office taking to address these challenges?

We work very aggressively on language access. One thing to note is that New York City is the greatest immigrant city in the world. My great-grandparents came here speaking Yiddish, and today people are arriving speaking Spanish, Chinese, Nepali, or any other language. We must ensure the government is responsive to them.

We audit city agencies to make sure they’re communicating in everyone’s languages. We also have a hotline and a comprehensive forum on our website in multiple languages. This allows people to report issues, such as trying to get help with housing but not finding assistance in their language. I hope people will take advantage of this. Visit the Comptroller’s website if you have a problem, and you can use it in Nepali and other languages.

We will follow up to ensure that the agency provides the service needed in that language. For example, we did an audit of the Human Resources Administration, which provides the lawyers I mentioned earlier and many other services. This is a big deal.

Regarding homelessness, there are two parts. First, of course, the solution to homelessness is housing. What people need is a home they can afford. As I mentioned, we’re pushing for more funding, more legal services, and more opportunities to build housing, so there’s enough housing and people don’t have to be homeless.

A significant number of people sleeping on the streets right now suffer from severe mental illness. The city needs to do more to help. This issue has doubled since before the pandemic, with people with mental illness sleeping on the subway or the streets.

It’s awful for them, and it can also pose a danger to their neighbors when they experience a psychotic episode. We need a plan, and my office is working to develop one, to end street homelessness for people with severe mental illness, ensuring they’re off the streets and all New Yorkers are safe.

Many members of the Nepali immigrant community, after years of hard work and saving, are now considering buying their first home. What steps can be taken to create opportunities and provide the necessary resources to help first-time homebuyers achieve their dream of homeownership?

This is New York, and it’s also the Nepali dream. It’s the American dream—everyone dreams of it. I often tell this story: my kids are now 21 and 25, and not too long ago, they came home with tattoos. My wife and I are not tattoo people, so we were a little suspicious. But what they got were tattoos of our house number and a picture of our stoop, drawn by my daughter. Our row house has been their identity and their safety.

That’s what families are looking for, whether they are Nepali, Jewish, or from any other background. We need to make it possible, even though it’s harder than it used to be to buy a home in New York City.

Here are a few things we can do. First, I mentioned Chhaya CDC, and I would urge your viewers to look them up because they focus on homeownership opportunities for South Asian New Yorkers. They can help people with down payment assistance programs if you have a good job but haven’t saved enough money yet.

Another opportunity is to fix up a basement or garage. If you can rent that out, you might be able to buy a home you wouldn’t have been able to otherwise because the extra rental income can help cover the costs.

The city also needs to help ensure more homes for ownership are being built. A lot of new housing being developed is for rent. Developers build large rental buildings, but the city used to help ensure that homeownership housing was also built, like Co-op City, Penn South, or Electchester in Queens. We could do that again. If we’re going to allow larger buildings to be built, let’s make sure some of them offer homeownership opportunities. Queens has a lot of co-ops, and we could have many more. This would enable many more families to buy a home.

Let’s discuss mental health. You mentioned that many New Yorkers, including recent immigrants, have been struggling with stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, financial crises, and other challenges. These issues have led some immigrant families to face severe difficulties, even homelessness. How can we address these challenges? What actions is your office taking to tackle homelessness related to mental health?

Yeah, and this is across the board. I mean, mental health became an issue that was elevated during the pandemic for everyone. If you combine that with what smartphones are doing to young people, it’s a real challenge. The worst situation is when people are sleeping on the street and are mentally ill. They may cycle between the subway, the street, a hospital, and Rikers, only to return to the streets, getting worse each time, and possibly becoming a danger. Just last week, we saw a mentally ill, homeless person stab three New Yorkers, killing two of them.

So, that’s where we should start. We’re proposing a strategy called Housing First, where you connect housing supports, like housing vouchers and social services, to help people get off the street into a unit, and then provide them with access to medication and clinical care. This program works 70 to 90 percent of the time. It’s a big step forward. We used to have a lot of homeless veterans on the streets, but we essentially ended veterans’ street homelessness in New York City. We could do the same for people with severe mental illness. That would be a huge step forward.

But there are other steps we can take as well, especially for our kids. It’s long past time to ban cell phones in schools. Our kids—like me too—are addicted to our phones. I’m a bit addicted, but hopefully my brain is more developed. But young people get hooked on theirs. We could just say, “No phones during school hours.” Then we should add more after-school programs that provide arts, sports, and cultural activities to help our kids develop in a healthy way. The Nepali community has so many good traditions—dance, literature, and other beautiful things. The more we can get our young people engaged in those kinds of programs, the better. Yes, they need to learn math, reading, and the usual school subjects, but adding more opportunities for after-school and childcare programs could also help with their mental health.

We’ve discussed how COVID-19 created significant financial challenges, especially for small, family-owned businesses, which many immigrants, including members of the Nepali community, rely on. While some businesses have shut down, others are still struggling to recover. What steps is your office taking to support small business owners from immigrant communities, including the Nepali community, as they work to survive and rebuild?

We did an audit of the Department of Small Business Services’ loan and grant programs, especially those set up for pandemic relief. What we found was that there wasn’t enough outreach to ensure immigrant business owners, and those in the outer boroughs, knew about the available grant and loan programs. These programs were mostly reaching businesses in Manhattan and English-speaking communities. After our audit, the Department of Small Business Services agreed to do more outreach, in more languages, and to make sure these resources reach the Bronx, Queens, and beyond. We have a lot of programs, but if immigrant business owners don’t know about them, they’re not going to be effective.

In Queens, many businesses and individuals, especially English speakers, are benefiting from available opportunities. However, immigrants with limited English proficiency often miss out. What steps do you think would be most effective in ensuring they have access to the same opportunities?

A few things. Well, language access is obviously one key factor. If the information about these programs is in your language, you’ll have a better chance of learning about them. It’s also important to support outreach organizations—nonprofits and community media organizations—to help spread the word. It’s great to have a chamber of commerce, but if they don’t speak the languages and do the outreach, it’s not very helpful. We could give more contracts to groups that represent diverse communities, so they can do the outreach, go directly to business owners in their language, and let them know about the available programs.

Small business owners are busy with their day-to-day work—whether it’s doing dry cleaning, making food, or providing other services. They’re not necessarily checking the web for government programs. So, we need people to visit those businesses and say, “Hey, here are some programs that could help you.” Similarly, the city has a commitment to advertise in community and ethnic media—newspapers, TV, and radio—but many agencies are not meeting those obligations. We noticed that even the health department, which needs to reach everyone, wasn’t doing enough advertising in ethnic and community media. That’s something we’ll be pushing to improve.

Returning to the topic of financial challenges—while data shows job opportunities are increasing, many new immigrants, including those in the Nepali community, continue to face difficulties securing stable employment, often due to language barriers. How is your office working to create better job opportunities for immigrant communities, including the Nepali community?

Yeah, this is a real issue. There are a lot of jobs, but many of them don’t pay enough to cover rent or bills. A lot of the jobs created since the pandemic are in healthcare or home care, which are essential, but if these jobs don’t pay enough, people can’t pay the rent, cover childcare, or meet their needs. That leads to frustration.

My office does a lot of economic analysis. We don’t directly run job training or creation programs, but we analyze the programs that are out there, review the economy, and make recommendations for the city to lift worker pay. For example, when I was in the City Council, I passed legislation that created minimum pay requirements for Uber and Lyft drivers, and for Deliveristas—workers who were being paid well below minimum wage. Now, they’re getting decent pay. I’ll continue looking for opportunities to make sure our economy creates not just jobs, but good jobs.

Immigrant communities often work hard, run small businesses, and focus on their day-to-day lives. However, when it comes to having their voices heard by policymakers or engaging with decision-makers, they often feel overlooked. As an immigrant myself, I know how frustrating it can be to feel excluded from these conversations. How do you think we can address this issue and ensure that policymakers actively include and listen to immigrant voices?

First of all, it’s great to be talking to you. Local media plays a big role in ensuring elected officials are connecting with your community. There are other ways too. In our office, we try to celebrate important cultural events. For example, we decided to hold our Diwali, Tihar, and Chandi Bandi Chor Divas celebrations in the community. Last year, we did it in Jackson Heights, and this year, we went to Southeast Queens, where there’s a large Indo-Caribbean community. We honored people from the community, including Padma Linka Magar, from an organization that helps young Nepali people learn English and their native language, bridging cultures.

We also work with organizations like Adhikar, which represent workers, ensuring they know their rights, and Chhaya, which helps homeowners access opportunities. We’re always looking to build those bridges. One of my favorite things we just did in this office was an audit of all the city agencies. One key agency is NYCHA, the New York City Housing Authority. We created a NYCHA resident audit committee, bringing people into our office to meet with our auditors. We listened to what they had to say and conducted an audit based on their input.

I agree with you—we need to break down the barriers between New Yorkers and their elected officials. That requires a lot of work. It means focusing on language access, working with community groups, and reaching out through ethnic media. I urge you to keep pushing all of us to be accountable to New Yorkers.

Focusing on community engagement, how do you currently collaborate with the Nepali community? Looking ahead, do you have plans to work more closely with Nepali community leaders to address their concerns and priorities?

Yes, I mean, this is a big part of what my Public Affairs Bureau does. It’s great that we’re looking at the budget, contracts, and auditing the agencies. That’s the general work of managing the pension funds and more, and it’s the main focus of our office. However, our office isn’t always the most public-facing, because the pension funds involve a lot of investments, and the budget is in the billions of dollars. The audits are looking at the work orders, and we ensure that the city’s annual financial report is published and the bonds are managed. That’s a lot of work people might not fully understand.

Meanwhile, our Public Affairs Bureau is out in communities asking leaders, “What’s on your mind? What are the big issues you’re facing?” When people say housing is too expensive and they need childcare to work, we look at those programs and try to improve them. We’re always looking to build bridges in communities. As I mentioned, we do a lot of events. I’ve attended some great community events in Western Queens, and I’ve been invited to show up. We also do events like the Diwali celebration I mentioned earlier. But we’re always looking to meet more people. For example, at last year’s Diwali event, the Govinda Dance Centre did a performance. That was new for me, and I enjoyed it. We also had some great dance performances at this year’s event, where we honored Padma. We held a roundtable discussion with immigrant worker organizing groups, and I think Adhikar has attended every roundtable meeting we’ve had, as we work to ensure workers’ rights are protected.

Given the budget cuts happening, how do you ensure that immigrant communities, such as the Nepali community, are protected? What steps will you take to ensure that essential services in neighborhoods with large immigrant populations are preserved?

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. This is a scary time. The election of Donald Trump presents grave risks for New York and many New Yorkers, especially for immigrant New Yorkers. Some of these risks are tied to the budget, which I’ll address in a moment, but there’s also the threat of deportation and raids. You might think you’re safe if you’re a citizen or have a green card, but I don’t think Donald Trump will care. He’s already said that if children are citizens because they were born here, but their parents are undocumented, he doesn’t care. He’s also said the same about people with DACA or TPS. This is a very serious risk.

I’m also concerned about the growing anti-immigrant sentiment. You might remember after 9/11, when there were attacks on the Sikh community, even though they had nothing to do with the events. Once anti-immigrant sentiment spreads, it can become a real problem. So, I promise to stand up for immigrant New Yorkers if ICE comes in and does workplace raids. If this happens, we will be on the ground, standing up for you.

But the budget is also a big concern. When Donald Trump was president, he proposed cuts to funding for hospitals—where many immigrants go for healthcare—and to New York City’s housing funds, schools, and even our school lunch program. We just released a report called Protecting New York City, which outlines the risks posed by the Trump administration, including budget cuts. We’re working to bring people together to push back. For instance, there are some programs where we can team up with red states, as their kids also need to eat lunch. We’re looking for ways to prevent cuts to education, healthcare, and housing.

How do transparent budgeting practices benefit communities that often feel overlooked, particularly in terms of financial planning?

Yes, people are angry right now. They feel frustrated because government isn’t meeting their needs. Housing prices are rising, people are sleeping on the streets, and neighborhoods don’t feel safe. When people feel this way, they’re angry that government isn’t doing enough. A big part of what we need to do is be more honest and transparent with people. We need to show them where their tax dollars are being spent.

At the Controller’s office, we work hard to ensure transparency. We have many dashboards online, including one that tracks employer violations. We also track the finances of many different agencies. When we see that money is being wasted, we do audits and call it out. For example, we found that HPD gave a $432 million contract to a company that wasted the money. That’s money that New Yorkers need, and it should be spent on their needs. So, yes, I believe that transparency, especially regarding the budget and city finances, is crucial to ensuring government works for hardworking families like the Nepali community and all New Yorkers.

Do you have any final thoughts or messages for the Nepali community before we close the show?

First, I want to say Dhanyabaad (thank you) to the Nepali community of New York City. It’s not just that New York City should be there for you; you are making our city richer. You’re starting businesses, making our neighborhoods safer, and working hard in many different industries. You bring beautiful culture, traditions, food, and dance to this city. We’re lucky to have your children in our schools and your families in our city.

As the city’s chief financial officer, I want to say Dhanyabad and thank you for your hard work and what you contribute to our city. As New York City’s Controller, I promise that I have your back and will do everything I can to make New York a place that works for your families. Thank you so much again.

Deepak Pariyar contributed from New York City.