ANALYSIS
Socialist hypocrisy: A DSA leader in New York lives in a $1.5 million home bought by his parents while rents hit record highs
Gustavo Gordillo criticises landlords and calls for land redistribution, yet he lives in a luxury home. Meanwhile, the average rent in Manhattan has reached $6,655 and the city’s vacancy rate has fallen to 1.49 per cent, the lowest figure since 1968.
Rally outside Governor Kathy Hochul's office in Manhattan
Gustavo Gordillo, co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in the city of New York, lives in a home in Brooklyn valued at $1.5 million while his organization attacks private property owners and landlords.
According to an exclusive from the New York Post (NYP), the two-story house in Bed-Stuy, measuring nearly 2,000 square feet, was purchased in 2019 by his parents through the company Chucuito LLC for just under one million dollars. The property has been completely renovated: the facade, the yard, the interiors, and two terraces. As of Tuesday, construction was still underway on the second floor.
A neighbor accuses him of hypocrisy
Faith Smith, a 36-year-old tenant in the same neighborhood, didn't mince words: "I wish my family could afford to buy me a million-dollar home." Regarding the socialist graduate of Yale, she said: "It’s a rich kid. That’s basically people who don’t have to deal with the struggles we have to deal with."
Gordillo's father confirmed to the Post that his two children live there and that "the LLC purchased the home, and then we did the renovations". Between 2016 and 2019, the same company rented him an apartment on the Lower East Side for $2,600 a month.
From Yale to Boca Raton
In 2013, he moved to New York to work in the art world, before becoming an electrician. He said that the patrons were "the very same people that we were fighting in DSA."
His parents, who prospered in the United States, own a home of over 5,000 square feet in Boca Raton, listed for $3.1 million, and another worth about $3 million in Weston. His father, also named Gustavo, founded Draftpros Inc., an engineering and consulting firm.
Against landlords, from his own home
Gordillo and the DSA call for the redistribution of land "from landowners to the landless." During a recent interview on The Story with Martha MacCallum, Gordillo stated: "We don’t think that anybody should have the constitutional right to double-digit returns on their investment," and he downplayed concerns that the rent freeze pushed by Mamdani will drive landlords out of the market.
On social media, the leftist presents himself as a union electrician, with the username @UnionGordillo. He joined Local 3 of the IBEW in 2019, but there are no records indicating he completed the process to become a full-fledged member. This year, he told the New York Times that he no longer works as an electrician. It is unknown what he does for a living now.
The socialist leader did not respond to calls from the Post.
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Manhattan rents hit a record high of $6,655
The city's vacancy rate has plummeted to 1.49%, the lowest level since 1968. Any figure below 5% is already considered a landlord's market. At the same time, the median rent stands at $5,295, up 6% from July of last year.
Rents have risen across all housing types. Studio apartments average $4,088 (up 8%), one-bedroom units $5,486 (7%), two-bedroom units $8,054 (13%), and three-bedroom units are at $12,228 (12%). Studios, single-bedroom units, and duplexes have reached all-time highs.
Real estate agents point to measures implemented by Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani as one of the factors driving up prices. The upcoming rent freeze on rent-stabilized units, which will take effect on October 1, and the new tax on second homes are reducing supply and pushing demand toward the open market.
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