Mark Levine, who has led Manhattan for over a year as borough president, says cracking down on the illegal marijuana market and increasing affordable housing are top issues in the borough.

Three cannabis dispensaries have opened in Manhattan, including The Union Square Travel Agency, which opened last week.

But Levine says the legal market will not thrive unless illegal shops are shut down.

Earlier this month, Levine, a Democrat, stood with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Mayor Eric Adams and other city and state officials to announce a new legal strategy that would impose harsh consequences upon those who illegally sell marijuana.

"I was really proud to stand with the DA and the mayor about two weeks ago and call for an effort to go after the leases of these unlicensed stores — a little more of an aggressive enforcement measure," Levine told Rocco Vertuccio and Shannan Ferry Sunday morning on NY1.

Manhattan smoke shops were recently warned via letter that landlords will soon be required to evict any store engaging in illegal activity. And if the landlord fails to comply, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office will bring its own eviction proceeding.

"For this thing to really take form and for the equity component to succeed, we have got to deal with the proliferation of unlicensed stores," Levine said.

As more dispensaries pop up in Manhattan, Levine is hoping more housing will pop up, too. He said Manhattan has a "real crisis of affordability."

"Average rents now are over $5000 a month, and that's just a devastating thing for low-income families — even middle-class families," Levine said. "We have to create more housing."

To help address the issue, Levine released a report in January outlining 171 locations in the borough that he believes can be turned into more than 73,000 new homes.

"It'd be a game changer in our battle for affordability," Levine said.

Aside from cannabis and housing, Levine is also focusing on something that will make the concrete jungle a little greener: planting trees in the city.

"Trees help us battle climate change because they absorb [carbon dioxide]," Levine said. "They clean the air. They absorb storm runoff when we have heavy rains. They cool a neighborhood on hot days."

Levine recently joined his four fellow borough presidents to call for the One Million More Trees Initiative to be prioritized. If approved, this plan would commit the city to spending an estimated $500 million to expand the city's tree canopy.

"[We need] to put trees on streets that don't have, to fill in park areas without enough trees, to put trees on rooftops and school yards, in NYCHA developments. There's huge opportunity here by expanding our tree canopy and we want to do it," Levine said.