In his annual State of the City speech on Thursday, it was evident Mayor Bill de Blasio is feeling the pressure. The end of his term is near. It's been six years since he took office and now, he's feeling some urgency with less than two years left.

"I felt it was time for something different. It's time to be blunt," de Blasio told the audience gathered at the American Museum of Natural History on Thursday. "People are afraid that New York City won't be New York City anymore," he added.

De Blasio delivered his annual State of the City address on Thursday in a town hall style setting under iconic blue whale. He took a moment to reflect on the accomplishments of his administration.

But he took a sobering tone with the issues that remain unresolved during his time in office: There is a deep affordability crisis, homelessness remains on the rise and more and more New Yorkers are feeling priced out. The Tale of Two Cities de Blasio set out to end continues.

So the mayor is taking aim at landlords and the real estate industry.

He's acknowledging his housing proposal has not gone far enough and is proposing drastic measures to turn things around. Those include decreasing income requirements for low-income housing, changing the way New Yorkers pay security deposits and relaxing building codes to spur construction.

"It's not that we have to fear street thugs. It's that we have to fear bad landlords," de Blasio said.

But some of his critics, including Council Speaker Corey Johnson and Comptroller Scott Stringer — two likely candidates running to succeed him — say it might be too late.

"I don’t think the city needs to be saved, I think we need to have bigger ideas," Johnson said.

"I do think the city has to be saved from some of his policies, and today he owned up to the fact that the housing plan he put forth has not worked for the poorest people of this city," Stringer said.

Other plans released Thursday include building more community centers, expanding pre-K, aggressively tackling climate change and creating protections for small businesses.

With two years left in office and a range of proposals that will need city and state and approval, de Blasio will face the challenge of diminished influence. Some already see him as a lame duck mayor, and the race to succeed him is beginning to heat up.