By: Peter Bibinsky

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s newly appointed tenant czar is under fire after resurfaced social media posts revealed she once called for the seizure of private property, promoted communism, and denounced homeownership as a tool of “white supremacy.”

As the New York Post first reported, Cea Weaver — recently named director of the city’s Office to Protect Tenants — made the incendiary statements in a series of posts on X years before joining City Hall. The posts, which have since been deleted, were uncovered by online sleuths shortly after Mamdani announced her appointment.

In a June 2018 post, Weaver wrote bluntly: “Seize private property!” — a phrase long associated with communist ideology. She later expanded on that view in August 2019, delivering what critics have described as a mini-manifesto attacking ownership itself.

“Private property including any kind of ESPECIALLY homeownership is a weapon of white supremacy,” Weaver wrote, according to screenshots cited by the Post.

Weaver also urged followers to “Elect more communists” in a 2017 post tied to the renaming of a Harlem street honoring former Rep. Vito Marcantonio, a prominent Communist figure in New York political history, the New York Post reported.

Her rhetoric extended beyond housing policy. During the unrest following the death of George Floyd in 2020, Weaver unleashed a broadside against law enforcement, writing that police officers are “just people the state sanctions to murder with immunity.” Critics say the comment raises serious concerns given her role coordinating with city agencies.

Weaver is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and previously worked as a campaign coordinator for Housing Justice For All, a powerful left-wing advocacy group. She also served as an adviser to Mamdani during his successful 2025 mayoral campaign, according to the Post, and was considered part of his progressive inner circle.

She was a key figure lobbying the Democrat-controlled state Legislature in 2019 to tighten New York’s rent stabilization laws — changes that sharply limited landlords’ ability to raise rents or remove apartments from regulation.

Those policies, combined with Weaver’s past remarks, have alarmed property owners who fear City Hall is openly hostile to landlords.

“Without landlords, how do you build and maintain housing?” said Humberto Lopes, founder and CEO of the Gotham Housing Alliance, in comments reported by the New York Post. “You think the government is going to do it? Look at NYCHA. You put a system in place to destroy landlords, and then you wonder why housing falls apart.”

The controversy comes as Mamdani pushes one of the most aggressive tenant-focused agendas in city history. He has vowed to freeze rents on roughly one million rent-regulated apartments — a move that would require approval from the Rent Guidelines Board and could significantly impact building owners’ finances.

Despite the backlash, Mamdani has pressed forward. He also appointed veteran state housing official Dina Levy as the new commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development.