In a historic vote, rent freezes are approved for one- and two-year leases
- The decision is a win for Mamdani and impacts NYC’s nearly 1 million stabilized units
Tenant leaders from New York State Tenant Bloc, CAAAV Voice, CASA, and Met Council on Housing organized a rally outside El Museo del Barrio ahead of tonight’s vote.
Alexandra Chan for Tenant Bloc
In a vote of 7-1, the Rent Guidelines Board tonight approved rent freezes for both one- and two-year leases—the first time a zero percent rent increase has been implemented for two-year leases.
A fired-up audience filled the theater at El Museo del Barrio in Upper Manhattan and broke into cheers after the final vote, which impacts New York City’s nearly one million rent-stabilized units. The freeze applies to new leases and renewals occurring on or after Oct. 1st, 2026, through Sept. 30th, 2027.
The solitary "no” vote came from Arpit Gupta, one of the board’s public representatives.
Tenant leaders from New York State Tenant Bloc, CAAAV Voice, CASA, and Met Council on Housing organized a rally ahead of tonight’s vote, one of several events held in conjunction with the board’s multiple hearings this spring.
Maksim Wynn, an owner representative to the board, gave a lengthy statement prior to his vote that was at times nearly drowned out by noise from audience members who likely anticipated a vote against the freeze from him.
However, he concluded, “at this moment in time with the city taking the first steps towards the capital and expense interventions owners need and the imminent risk of cratering economic occupancy, a 0 percent increase on one- and two-year leases is in an owner's best interest. I vote yes.”
Speaking by phone after the meeting adjourned, Lauren Melodia, an economist appointed to the board by Mayor Zohran Mamdani as a public representative, said she hoped the intense spotlight on the final vote generates more support for both struggling landlords and tenants.
“Board members showed up with an open mind and took the process seriously,” she said of the public hearings and meetings held by the Rent Guidelines Board over the past four months. “We listened to owners of distressed properties and tenants who have to make a choice between paying their rent and other bills.”
She commended Wynn for his statement. “The only way to find solutions is through building coalitions across the aisle and his statement offers an example of how to do that.”
Mamdani scores a win
A rent freeze is a victory for Mayor Mamdani and fulfills a core campaign promise. With six new members of the board appointed by Mayor Mamdani, his picks dominate the nine-person board.
“Organized tenants made history today,” said Sumathy Kumar, executive director of NYS Tenant Bloc.
“The first ever two-year rent freeze was won by tenants who campaigned for nearly two years to take back our city and make it work for us—the majority of New Yorkers. Tenants worked to elect a mayor who would fight for our rights and turned out in record numbers to the Rent Guidelines Board to demand a rent freeze,” Kumar said.
Other tenant representatives pointed to the power of collective organizing.
“For years, tenants were told we could not truly influence the decisions that shape our lives. But we organized, spoke out, and proved that when we stand together, we can win together,” said Joanne Grell, CASA leader in the Bronx, and co-chair, NYS Tenant Bloc Freeze the Rent campaign.
Open to a rent freeze
The nine-person Rent Guidelines Board, which sets limits each year on rent increases, previously signaled it was open to a rent freeze, including the first rent freeze on two-year leases, at a preliminary vote in May. That’s when the board approved ranges of 0 to 2 percent for one-year leases and 0 to 4 percent for two-year leases.
The board consist of two landlord representatives, two tenant representatives, and five so-called public representatives, including the chair, Chantella Mitchell. Typically, the tenant representatives favor a rent freeze and owner representatives push for rent increases, so the five public members are critical. When Mayor Mamdani was able to make six appointments to the board, it made a rent increase very likely.
Last year the RGB approved increases of up to 3 percent for one-year leases and up to 4.5 percent on two-year leases. The last time the city saw a rent freeze was in in 2020 during the pandemic.
Last minute resignation
One of nine board members was absent from tonight’s vote: Christina Smyth, the board’s landlord representative, re-appointed by then-Mayor Eric Adams, resigned Thursday morning in a three-page letter just hours before the vote.
“This rebuilt board was required to deliver a rent freeze. Everything since has been theater. The hearings, the reports, the public comment, the data. None of it was ever going to change the result,” Smyth, a real estate attorney, wrote in a letter first reported by the Daily News. Smyth claimed that Mamdani’s hand-picked board members were intent on delivering a rent freeze no matter what the data showed.
“The Rent Guidelines Board has stopped being a fact-finding body. It has become a body that starts with an answer and vibe codes its way backward to justify it,” she wrote
Landlord representatives ‘fuming’
A statement from Ann Korchak, board president of Small Property Owners of New York, described her as “fuming” and “seething.”
“This vote was an absolute farce. The RGB may have technically met its quorum requirements, but proceeding with one of the most consequential rent votes in recent times with half of its owner representation undermined the balance and fairness of this process,” Korchak said in a statement.
She said the vote should been postponed until a new owner representative was appointed.
The resignation “validated our greatest fear, that the majority Mamdani-appointed RGB would cave to the political demands of City Hall,” she said.
“Defunding rent-stabilized housing when the RGB’s own data showed a 5.3 percent increase in operational costs and expenses is setting up already financially distressed small owners for failure,” she added.
James Whelan, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, also slammed the vote and its future impact on older buildings.
“The Rent Guidelines Board ignored its own data and made a terrible decision tonight,” Whelan said.
“Older rent-stabilized buildings are already struggling under rising operating costs, yet the Board chose to disregard those realities. This decision will mean less investment in maintenance and repairs, accelerating the deterioration of the housing stock that millions of New Yorkers call home. Tonight’s vote may be politically popular, but it will make New York’s housing crisis worse,” he said.
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