There are a lot of reasons why Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary for New York City’s mayoral race. The most underrated might be that he looked as though he really, really wanted to win, and he looked as though he was having a little bit of fun running.

I also think there’s a reason his political message about affordability resonates. The rent is too damn high.

Job growth in New York City has outpaced the growth of housing in the city for over four decades. Employment is up 35 percent since 1980. Housing stock is up 24 percent.

Consequently, New York City, even with a declining population, has seen the largest rent increases in the country. Nearly one-third of residents pay half of their monthly income or more in rent. Fifty-two percent of NYC residents pay more than 30 percent of their monthly income in rent, which is considered “rent-burdened” in the statistics.

Rural areas are more sensitive to energy prices. But in a city like New York, the price of rent goes into the price of everything else — whether that’s last week’s secondhand tickets to see Kieran Culkin and Bob Odenkirk in Glengarry Glen Ross, or the price of a hot dog at Gray’s Papaya. People may not love the buses, but people in Queens and Brooklyn who are struggling with NYC-style inflation would love the little bit of cost-certainty that Mamdani’s “free bus” scheme might bring to their lives.

The main problem for Mamdani is that he is promising to create affordability on the backs of billionaires who will find it easiest to relocate their tax residency. What New York really needs is greater housing supply.