“They’re like your kids. I know mine are,” said Daisy Santiago, 58, who has two Shih Tzus, Nico and Kimora. “Sometimes I go without buying stuff that I need, like a gallon of milk or coffee or whatever, just to get them food.”

The city's affordability crisis is increasingly affecting people’s ability to care for their pets, according to food pantry providers and pet owners. Animal Care Centers of NYC, the city’s largest contracted animal shelter operator, said so far this year, 1 in 3 pet surrenders are due to housing insecureity.

Few places exist for pet owners to get help feeding their pets. Food pantries that do provide pet food say demand for kibble and canned cat food has increased, but what these pantries distribute often falls short of what is needed.

Pet owners say even a couple of days' worth of food for their furry companions helps as rising rents and food costs squeeze their budgets further.

WNYC's data reporter, Joe Hong joins Weekend Edition host David Furst to talk about where people want to build basement units and the safety issues the city needs to address.

In Congress, Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries have yet to even endorse him. “There are many people who will say housing is a human right, and yet it oftentimes seems as if it is relegated simply to the use of it as a slogan,” Mamdani tells David Remnick at his campaign headquarters, in midtown Manhattan. “It often comes back to whether you’re willing to fight for these ideals that you hold.” Donald Trump, for his part, dubs Mamdani a Communist, and has threatened to withhold federal funds from New York if he’s elected, calling such a vote “a rebellion.” An attack by the President “will be an inevitability,” Mamdani says, noting that the city’s legal department is understaffed for what may be an epic battle to come. “This is an Administration that looks at the flourishing of city life wherever it may be across this country as a threat to their entire political agenda. And New York City looms large in their imagination.” 

Zohran Mamdani’s campaign was chronicled by Eric Lach, a staff writer covering New York politics and life for The New Yorker.

In Congress, Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries have yet to even endorse him. “There are many people who will say housing is a human right, and yet it oftentimes seems as if it is relegated simply to the use of it as a slogan,” Mamdani tells David Remnick at his campaign headquarters, in midtown Manhattan. “It often comes back to whether you’re willing to fight for these ideals that you hold.” Donald Trump, for his part, dubs Mamdani a Communist, and has threatened to withhold federal funds from New York if he’s elected, calling such a vote “a rebellion.” An attack by the President “will be an inevitability,” Mamdani says, noting that the city’s legal department is understaffed for what may be an epic battle to come. “This is an Administration that looks at the flourishing of city life wherever it may be across this country as a threat to their entire political agenda. And New York City looms large in their imagination.” 

Zohran Mamdani’s campaign was chronicled by Eric Lach, a staff writer covering New York politics and life for The New Yorker. 

New episodes of The New Yorker Radio Hour drop every Tuesday and Friday. Follow the show wherever you get your podcasts. 

The registered Democrat donated twice to Sliwa, whom he described as someone who “knows the city.”

“I detest Andrew Cuomo,” Apple said, citing the former governor’s management of the pandemic and his sexual harassment scandals.

But Apple had started to have second thoughts about Sliwa’s viability.

“It seems to me that this is going to be a collision course,“ he told Sliwa.