{"id":8667,"date":"2025-07-10T15:51:47","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T19:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/casa\/?p=8667"},"modified":"2025-07-10T15:56:36","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T19:56:36","slug":"no-rent-freeze-as-board-approves-hikes-up-to-4-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/casa\/2025\/07\/10\/no-rent-freeze-as-board-approves-hikes-up-to-4-5\/","title":{"rendered":"No Rent Freeze as Board Approves Hikes Up To 4.5%"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Members of the NY state tenants bloc chanted “Freeze the Rent!” and “Mamdani” at the Rent Guidelines Board hearing. June 30, 2025\u00a0Credit:<\/span> Alex Krales\/ THE CITY<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
Courtesy of CASA-New Settlement<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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A rent freeze? Not this year.<\/p>

The Rent Guidelines board voted Monday night on rent increases for about one million rent-stabilized apartments of up to 3% for one-year leases and 4.5% for two-year leases beginning Oct. 1.<\/p>

The vote of five to four was the conclusion of a contentious meeting, part of an annual process in which the city board weighs tenant and landlord economics to set permitted rent hikes. The outcome found particular significance this year after Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic mayoral nomination after pledging to freeze stabilized rents next year.<\/p>

The board had weighed increases between 1.75% and 4.75% for one-year leases and 3.75% and 7.75% for two-year leases.<\/p>

Tenant activists led by Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes (D-Brooklyn) chanted \u201cFreeze the rent!\u201d as board members arrived, booing and cheering alternatively at the packed theater of El Museo del Barrio in the Upper East Side, where the meeting was held. \u201cWe\u2019re here today making sure that they see us, that they hear us, that they feel us, that we want a rent freeze,\u201d Joanne Grell, co-chair of the New York State Tenants Bloc, told THE CITY. \u201cAnd to say goodbye to some of them,\u201d she said in reference to the eight board appointees whose terms have already expired and could be replaced at any time.<\/p>

The board\u2019s nine members are all appointed by the mayor. Two represent tenants, two landlords, and the other five, including the chair, represent the general public. Mamdani\u2019s \u201cfreeze the rent\u201d promise is predicated on installing new members of the independent board who would be more sympathetic to tenants and less likely to approve rent hikes \u2014 people \u201cwho understand that landlords are doing just fine.\u201d The board has approved a freeze three times in the past, all under Mayor Bill de Blasio.<\/p>

Last year, the board approved hikes of 2.75% for one-year leases and 5.25% for two years.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u2018Change Is Coming\u2019<\/p>

Landlords of rent-regulated apartments saw their net operating income rise 8%, adjusted for inflation, between 2022 and 2023, according to the Rent Guidelines Board\u2019s 2025 income and expense study. In the same period, the study also found that landlords\u2019 rental income grew 6.9% as their total income grew 6.6% and expenses rose 3.8%.<\/p>

The analysis accounted for over 16,000 buildings containing nearly 700,000 apartments, and showed both income and rental growth varied widely across boroughs.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Credit:<\/span>\u00a0Alex Krales\/ THE CITY<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Landlords have said that hikes are not high enough to maintain their buildings, while tenants said they\u2019re financially squeezed and can\u2019t afford to pay more. During Monday\u2019s meeting, ahead of the vote, both landlord and tenant representatives expressed their disapproval of the proposed increases and voted no.<\/p>


The landlord representatives warned the increases were not enough to make whole buildings that were financially underwater, and warned that landlords would not be able to make investments to the housing stock.

\u201cWe understand that this is a very difficult decision, and that this board is put in a position each year to the utter failures of the state elected officials and the city government to address the high cost of housing and the abject lack of supply,\u201d said board member Christina Smyth, a lawyer, who blamed \u201cthe systemic defunding of buildings\u201d on rising property taxes, insurance costs and utility bills as well as the 2019 state tenant protection laws.

On the other hand, the tenant representatives were dismayed with the increases and underscored the call for a rent freeze.

\u201cWe demanded a rent freeze, we elected a mayor who promised a rent freeze,\u201d said board member Genesis Aquino, executive director of Tenants & Neighbors, an affordable housing tenant advocacy group. \u201cWe may not win in November \u2014 whether we win or not, we are strong enough to use our power to get rid of this type of board\u2026 so continue fighting. We want a rent freeze.\u201d

Mamdani, who was not at the meeting, said in a statement that even a modest rent hike would push New Yorkers out of their homes.

\u201cBut as voters showed last Tuesday, New Yorkers are ready for a city government that lowers costs instead of padding real estate profits. Change is coming,\u201d he said.

His absence did not dampen support for his campaign among those gathered to protest the rent hikes. Tenant activists wore campaign pins and waved his orange and blue signs. Some protesters led a brief chant of \u201cZohran! Zohran!\u201d immediately following the vote. And his primary victory was frequently referenced by tenants and advocates who spoke with THE CITY.

\u201cWe knew we were going to be getting a rent increase,\u201d Esteban Gir\u00f3n of Tenants PAC, which endorsed Mamdani, told THE CITY after the vote. \u201cBut hopefully, you know, with a new mayor, we\u2019ll have them out of there, because we can\u2019t have that happening anymore.\u201d

by Samantha Maldonado and Claudia Irizarry Aponte<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Members of the NY state tenants bloc chanted “Freeze the Rent!” and “Mamdani” at the Rent Guidelines Board hearing. June 30, 2025\u00a0Credit: Alex Krales\/ THE CITY Courtesy of CASA-New Settlement A rent freeze? Not this year. The Rent Guidelines board voted Monday night on rent increases for about one million rent-stabilized apartments of up to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":8668,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/casa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/casa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/casa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/casa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/casa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8667"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/casa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8676,"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/casa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8667\/revisions\/8676"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/casa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/casa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/casa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/casa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}