NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani benefited from taxpayer-subsidized Columbia University housing he wants to scrap

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has proposed eliminating hundreds of millions of dollars in yearly property tax exemptions for Columbia University — exemptions that he and his family benefited from for years as tenants of a stylish apartment complex owned by the Ivy League, The Post has learned.Mamdani, a Democratic socialist state Assemblyman from Astoria, Queens, proposed legislation that calls for a dramatic alteration or repeal of real property tax exemptions for “private institutions of higher education.”In New York City, private universities receive annual exemptions costing $659 million — with Columbia University and New York University accounting for more than $300 million combined.Columbia, a largely tax-exempt, not-profit entity, is among the largest private property owners in the city.The Ivy League institution based in Morningside Heights owns 150 buildings that are used to rent housing to more than 8,000 faculty, staff, post-doctoral, graduate, and select undergraduate student residents.The tenants are also allowed to sublease their apartments.Most of the housing is within walking distance of the Morningside campus on 116th Street and Broadway.Among the buildings is a grand 38-unit apartment complex on the tony Riverside Drive exclusively reserved for Columbia faculty and staff.Mahmood Mamdani, a Columbia University professor and Zohran’s dad, has been a leaseholder tenant at the Riverside Drive complex for 25 years.Zohran Mamdani, 33, grew up in the building.Because of massive tax breaks, the professors pay below-market or discounted rents compared to other private buildings in the area — at least 20% to 25% lower — Columbia sources said.For example, last year, the Columbia property where the Mamdanis have lived received a 91% exemption, which resulted in an annual property tax liability of approximately $17,184, according to the city Department of Financial Services.If the Riverside Drive building had not benefited from t...