Rent Guidelines Board intends to raise stabilized rents for a fourth time

The Rent Guidelines Board signaled its intent to raise rents for about one million rent-stabilized households in New York City during a preliminary 5 to 4 vote last night.

The nine-person board approved rent hikes in a range of 1.75 percent to 4.75 percent for one-year leases and 4.75 to 7.75 percent for two-year leases. During the meeting, RGB’s tenant representatives Adán Soltren and Genesis Aquino called for a rent freeze. 

The specific rent increases for new leases and lease renewals will be finalized during a vote in June. Increases would go into effect starting on or after Oct. 1st.

This is the fourth year in a row that the Mayor Eric Adams-appointed board has favored an increase. Last year, amid protests, the RGB approved rent increases of up to 2.75 percent on one-year leases and 5.25 percent on two-year leases in a 5 to 4 vote.

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Tenants stood in line outside LaGuardia Community College to get into the RGB vote.

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Celia Young for Brick Underground

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Organizers from CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities held signs calling for a rent freeze.

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Celia Young for Brick Underground

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Renette Bradley, a member of HOPE Tenant Union, said Mayor Adams “sold [tenants] out.”

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Celia Young for Brick Underground

Election hot button

Tenants showed up last night to protest outside LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City and call out mayoral candidates who don’t support a rent freeze.

“They don’t talk about the mayor's race without talking about rent adjustments,” Esteban Giron, a tenant organizer with Crown Heights Tenants Union, told Brick Underground.

Renette Bradley, a member of HOPE Tenant Union, said Adams “sold [tenants] out.” Mayor Adams previously said he would be against a rent freeze if it hurts small landlords.

“We want to pay rent, but we shouldn’t have to choose between bath soap and rent,” Bradley said. “That’s not right.”

At least five mayoral candidates support freezing the rent if elected mayor: Assembly member Zohran Mamdani, State Senator Jessica Ramos, former Assembly member Michael Blake, Comptroller Brad Lander, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams.

Former New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer previously told Brick he backed rent freezes in the past, “but I’m not going to support a blanket freeze without looking at data and analysis.” 

Adams finds his limit

Adams responded to last night’s vote with a statement that read in part, “an increase as much as 7.75 percent is far too unreasonable of a burden for tenants, especially as our entire city is feeling the squeeze of a 1.4 percent housing vacancy rate and a decades-long affordability crisis. New Yorkers simply cannot bear these costs.”

A report from the RGB released in March found that revenues increased 12.1 percent for landlords of buildings with any rent-stabilized units, which tenant advocates said warranted a rent freeze.

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