The high-profile election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York has spotlighted the role local governments play in housing matters. Mamdani ran on a campaign of affordability, and while some of his specific proposals may be less relevant – or not possible – for cities elsewhere in the country, the message seems to resonate everywhere.

Other mayors have long grappled with the housing crisis in their own backyards. A January 2025 report from the U.S. Conference of Mayors found that more than half of the 120 mayors surveyed expect housing shortfalls in the thousands of units in their cities in the coming years.

To find out what’s going on around America, USA TODAY spoke with five mayors, all of whom call housing a priority. Most offered a few words of advice for Mamdani, though one demurred. Each had plenty to say about their own challenges.

Interviews have been edited for clarity.

Carmel, Indiana

Republican Mayor Sue Finkam was elected mayor of this small city, just north of Indianapolis, in 2023. Finkam is proud of the accolades Carmel has received from national media: Best Small City in America from WalletHub, #2 Best Place to Live in the U.S. from Architectural Digest, among others.

That helps attract new residents, but Carmel also works to retain – and bring back – those who grew up in town but may feel priced out.

Apartments are controversial in town, Finkam told USA TODAY. Carmel had very few until recently, but she sees value in having “diversity” in housing options. Many long-time residents thought apartments were “evil,” but recent efforts to add housing near a rail trail have changed many peoples’ views.

“We did a back-of-the-napkin study on who was living in the apartments… and found that about one-third were 55-plus,” Finkam said.

“Some were people who had moved here post-COVID and haven't been able to find a house. Others had lived here forever, and others were those who just thought they'd try this lifestyle. I heard over and over again, ‘well I got a six-month lease but I realized this is so cool to walk my dog and see my neighbors and get a coffee and be really active, be in the heart of the community where everything's happening.’ Now people are re-upping their leases and scrapping plans to buy a house.”

Most of the city’s housing stock is four-bedroom, 2 ½-bath houses of two stories on a half-acre lot, Finkam said, "not ideal for a young person and not ideal for empty-nesters." To encourage people to "right size", and to offer ownership opportunities, the city has tried to prioritize condo development.

Providence, Rhode Island

Democrat Brett Smiley became mayor of Providence, the capital of Rhode Island, in 2023. He has spent much of the time since then working on housing issues, calling it an “urgent” priority.

“Last year we ranked on a couple of the lists as having some of the fastest growing rents in the country,” Smiley said. He's glad people are choosing Providence, but dismayed that long-time residents are struggling to stay in place. “We don't aspire to be a place that only certain people can afford to be.”

To bring community residents on board, city leaders spent a year and a half in nearly 100 public meetings scattered around the city.

“Everyone had a chance to see what was being proposed so that it wasn't rumor or fear," Smiley explained. "You could actually look at the map, touch it, feel it, see your block… Nobody felt like it was being done to them. It felt like it was being done with them. And I'm really proud of my community for engaging in that process and for being willing to do something that most cities and towns don't do.

Asked if he had advice for Mayor-elect Mamdani, Smiley said, “If a problem is complex, be wary of simple solutions. The approach we're taking in Providence is… robust and comprehensive... We are not doing just one thing. We're making sure we don't lose any of our existing housing so that we're not taking one step forward with new construction, but then two steps backwards by having old affordable properties come offline. And we're providing protections for tenants because we know that they need it.”

Clearfield, Utah

This small city about 20 miles north of Salt Lake is home to Hill Air Force Base. Mark Shepherd, a Republican, was first elected mayor in 2013. Shepherd laughs when he calls being mayor a “part-time gig.” He also runs a real estate brokerage in town.

“We started noticing a few years ago a real problem with our airmen in that they were having to (live) double, triple, quadruple in an apartment to be able to afford housing… They're at my food banks because they can't afford rent. That to me is criminal,” Shepherd told USA TODAY.

Shepherd feels that developers, real estate agents and legislators blame cities for the housing shortage because local zoning is “terrible,” he said.

“And while there's some truth to that, to me one of the most dangerous things that we could ever say, is 'Hey cities, we're taking your zoning rights away from you. We're going to allow… multifamily housing or dense housing anywhere.' ” He’s a staunch supporter of control staying with the people who live in the communities. “We know what works in our cities.”

For state legislatures, Shepherd said, taking away local control because a few cities aren’t doing what they need to do is a blunt instrument. “Legislatively, you can't say, Shepherd City is the bad apple and we're going to punish Shepherd City. ... You have to do it to the entire state.”

Advice for Mamdani?“Look to the future… not just the here and now...We have to look forward and say, OK, what does this do to us long-term? We cause more problems if we don't… When we dropped rates the way we did to spark an economy, it was meant to be a short-term fix. And we left it that way for way, way, way too long and now we're facing the consequences.”

Raleigh, North Carolina

Janet Cowell, a Democrat, was elected in 2024. Housing was at the top of her list of priorities. Like other mayors USA TODAY interviewed, that’s because her city, also a state capital, has seen explosive growth in recent years.

“Lots of folks just want to see you build affordable units and if you build anything else, you're ignoring the needs of the community," Cowell said. "I was just reading an e-mail from a constituent, (saying) If you approve this housing, you're going to show that you don't care. Why don't you build housing for people who need it, not market-rate, higher-end housing?’”Some residents want inclusivity in the housing plan beyond what's realistic, Cowell finds. For example: building affordable housing in expensive areas downtown.

“We understand that," she said, "but a subsidy for a single unit downtown can be $200,000... whereas a subsidy for a unit out on the outskirts of town may be $20,000. There's these real trade-offs of saying, yes, we need to put a stake in the ground and have some affordable units downtown, but what's the balance? I'd rather have 10 people housed than one person housed, even if it means they may have to take a bus.”

Cowell values constituent concerns, she said, but her priority is “results… I'm trying to get housing on the ground. The metrics I'm interested in are both affordable subsidized units and all market units. You educate (residents) as best you can, but then you make the decisions and just keep moving.”

Her advice for Mayor-elect Mamdani is that local context is “everything,” but local efforts take place within an “interconnected” web of various levels of government.

“There are different (housing) toolkits in different areas," she told USA TODAY. "It is an intricate negotiation and relationship management exercise to move forward at a local level and try to have that independence and agency, but know that you do have to work and think about all these other players. They will certainly have their opinions. I think they've shown themselves more recently to increasingly want to take away control from locals or do things that that impact us.”

Columbus, Ohio

Many of the mayors interviewed hold one or more roles in national leadership groups. Democrat Andrew Ginther, mayor of Columbus since 2016, is the immediate past president of the influential U.S. Conference of Mayors, a role in which he tried to address the national housing crisis.

Columbus is also a capital city, and like some of the other municipalities profiled here, has enjoyed years of strong population growth. Regional government leaders anticipate an additional population boom over the next several years. To address the city's housing needs, Ginther focuses on other interested parties.

“Ten years ago, a lot of private-sector leaders thought of this being more of a moral issue," Ginther said. "Wanting to fight homelessness… is the right thing to do. Now they know our economic development trajectory and our ability to continue to grow our economy and for them to attract the best and the brightest from around the state, the country, and the world … (depends on) housing. Our ability to continue to grow and create jobs is at risk unless we have places for families to live.”

Reports suggest the Columbus region needs 200,000 more housing units in the region over the next decade and he's volunteered to create half of those units - 100,000 - in the city.

Part of being leader as a city is acting regionally, Ginther thinks. He understands that not every community can commit to every kind of housing, like supportive homes for people exiting homelessness, for example.

“But everybody can do fifty-five plus communities, everybody can do some multi-family for seniors. I'll take on some of the more challenging and difficult populations. But I need everybody to do their part… I need the rest of the region to step up with updating their zoning codes, their land use policies, and really embrace housing.”

Ginther didn't want to give specific advice to New York City's incoming mayor, but said that the best way to have maximum impact and grow a sustainable movement "is by bringing everyone together under some common themes and values and inviting everyone in to be part of the solution. Folks may not choose to accept the invitation. They may not be willing to be part of the larger effort, but (the more you try), you can get a heck of a lot more done."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Housing is a national crisis. These five mayors have tackled it locally.

Reporting by Andrea Riquier, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect