(The Center Square) — A New York City board that sets the rent for city-subsidized apartments has signaled it will consider a key campaign pledge of Mayor Zohran Mamdani to freeze rents, drawing criticism from the city’s landlords.
The nine-member New York City Rent Guidelines Board voted Thursday night to set a preliminary rent adjustment of 0% to 2% for one-year leases and 0% to 4% for two-year leases. The board also voted to approve a rent freeze on all rent-stabilized hotels in the city and signaled it may back a rent freeze at its June meeting.
Freezing rents was a key campaign pledge for Mamdani, a democratic socialist who made New York City’s high housing costs and deteriorating conditions in rent-subsidized apartments a key plank of his mayoral bid. Shortly after taking office in January, Mamdani appointed five new members to the rent control board in a sweep aimed at packing it with supporters of his rent freeze plan.
“New Yorkers are being crushed by the cost of living, and they need real relief,” Mamdani said in a statement following Thursday night’s vote. “I’m encouraged to see the Board taking seriously the data around affordability, operating expenses, and the pressures facing both tenants and small property owners as it sets this preliminary range.”
But the New York Apartment Association, which represents landlords, blasted the board’s decision to set low increases and consider a red freeze, saying it “will jeopardize the livelihood of tens of thousands of New Yorkers.”
“This range is an example of politics over people,” Kenny Burgos, the group’s CEO, said in a statement. “The final vote impacts hundreds of thousands of tenants and owners.”
“Politics has pitted the two groups against each other as if they’re not all New Yorkers who are investing in their communities and seeking the same thing: the means to live,” Burgos said.
The association pointed to data published by the board in April that projected NYC landlords would need increases of 4.5% on one-year leases and 8.5% on two-year leases, just to cover their operating costs.
“An owner’s ability to pay for operating costs should matter to every tenant,” Burgos said. “Rent isn’t going into the pockets of rent-stabilized owners, it’s going into keeping the buildings standing.”
He said the looming threat of a rent freeze “nearly guarantees our owners and tenants will live in declining conditions for years to come.”
The city’s rent stabilization law, first enacted in 1969, restricts annual rent increases for specific apartments, with any increases set annually by the rent board. It affects roughly 1 million apartments in the city and has survived dozens of legal challenges over the past several decades.
Critics have described the rent control system as “welfare for the rich” and said New York City is losing millions of dollars a year in potential revenue from the costly housing regulatory system.
Supporters say it’s a crucial safety net in a city with some of the highest rents in the nation and a lack of affordable housing that is contributing to people leaving the state.
The board is expected to hold a final vote on the rental rates and Mamdani’s proposed freeze on June 25, following several public hearings.