{"id":8683,"date":"2025-07-14T09:12:59","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T13:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/casa\/?p=8683"},"modified":"2025-07-14T09:24:01","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T13:24:01","slug":"amid-mamdanis-call-for-rent-freeze-nyc-board-approves-up-to-4-5-hike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/casa\/2025\/07\/14\/amid-mamdanis-call-for-rent-freeze-nyc-board-approves-up-to-4-5-hike\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid Mamdani\u2019s call for rent freeze, NYC board approves up to 4.5% hike"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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David Brand\/Gothamist<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/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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Rents for New York City\u2019s roughly 1 million regulated apartments will rise starting in October, the Rent Guidelines Board voted Monday.

The nine-member panel of mayoral appointees elected to raise rent by 3% on new one-year leases and 4.5% on two-year leases at its annual hearing inside the Museo del Barrio in East Harlem. The increases are higher than the minimum of the range the board voted on in the spring and will take effect on leases signed on or after Oct. 1.

Landlord advocates on the board argued at the meeting that the increases are necessary to maintain older, crumbling rent-stabilized buildings. Tenant-advocate board members countered that renters are facing dire financial circumstances.

The board\u2019s always-contentious decision, and its composition, have received more scrutiny than ever before as it coincides with a heated mayoral race.

Presumptive Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, a state assemblymember from Queens, was arrested while protesting last year\u2019s increase and has made the vote a core pillar of his campaign. He did not show up at Monday’s vote. But if elected mayor, he\u2019s pledged to appoint board members who would never vote for an increase.<\/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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New York City Comptroller Brad Lander rallies with tenants in East Harlem, calling for a rent freeze ahead of the Rent Guidelines Board vote. David Brand\/Gothamist<\/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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City Comptroller Brad Lander, who cross-endorsed Mamdani in last week\u2019s primary and has become something of a surrogate for his campaign, joined demonstrators outside the building ahead of the vote. He urged the board to defy its own guidance from last month for a rent increase.

\u201cIf there was ever a moment for a rent freeze, it is right now,\u201d Lander told the crowd. \u201cIf they don\u2019t do it, we can get rid of this Rent Guidelines Board and bring some new folks in next year.\u201d

Mamdani’s slogan, \u201cFreeze the Rent,\u201d is part of a platform focused on affordability for everyday New Yorkers that has galvanized tenants even as it has prompted sharp rebukes from landlords. It\u2019s also drawn skepticism from his political opponents and many housing experts.

Mayor Eric Adams has criticized calls for a rent freeze, arguing it will only make already deteriorating housing conditions worse. Ahead of the vote on Monday, he had instead urged the board to \u201cadopt the lowest increase possible.\u201d

After the vote, Adams released a statement expressing disappointment with the board\u2019s decision, but he said the board alone cannot solve the city\u2019s housing crisis. He pointed to his administration\u2019s efforts to build more housing through a package of zoning reforms passed earlier this year.

\u201cWhile the board exercised their independent judgment, and made an adjustment based on elements such as inflation, I am disappointed that they approved increases higher than what I called for,\u201d Adams said.

During the first three years of Adams\u2019s term, the board voted to raise rents by a combined 9%. Before that, the board increased rents by just 6% during former Mayor Bill de Blasio\u2019s eight years as mayor and opted to freeze rents on three occasions.

But the legal landscape was far different for most of de Blasio\u2019s tenure. Landlords could raise rent by 20% on vacant apartments and remove units from the rent-stabilization system once rent reached a certain threshold, until a set of state laws strengthened tenant protections in 2019.

Over the past four months, board members heard testimony from renters, property owners and housing experts at a series of public hearings and considered research into the financial situation facing tenants and landlords.

\u201cFor me, a rent freeze really means that like people like my dad can retire in New York City and actually continue living in the same apartment,\u201d said Elisa Martinez, a Washington Heights tenant and organizer, outside the vote Monday.

Martinez, 29, said her father is a handyman contemplating retirement but would earn too much to qualify for senior rent freeze programs.

Households living in rent-stabilized apartments earn a median income of $60,000 a year, far below the city median of nearly $80,000, while the number of those who receive cash assistance \u2014 a benefit program for the lowest income New Yorkers \u2014 rose by over 16%, according to a board report. Tenants, their advocates and many elected officials warn that those numbers reveal a precarious and worsening financial situation for most New York City renters.

Stein also cited the effect that major proposed federal spending cuts \u2014 including the elimination of funding for housing code inspectors \u2014 would have on low-income renters.

Reports compiled by Rent Guidelines Board staff also found landlords\u2019 expenses rose by about 6% last year, though their profits, known as net operating income, increased by around 12%. Owners and their advocates cautioned that a spike in profits among building owners in Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn masked more modest gains elsewhere in the city, and even sharp decreases in the Bronx and other areas.

Ann Korchak, board president of the trade group Small Property Owners of New York, said Monday\u2019s decision \u201cfailed\u201d landlords. She called for a new system that allows owners of smaller, distressed properties to raise rents by higher amounts.

Landlords are legally required to notify tenants if their apartment is rent-stabilized as part of the initial lease and each subsequent renewal. Tenants can also find out if their apartment is rent-stabilized by contacting the state\u2019s Department of Homes and Community Renewal and requesting a rent history.<\/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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By David Brand Published Jun 30, 2025 | Gothamist<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\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":"

David Brand\/Gothamist Rents for New York City\u2019s roughly 1 million regulated apartments will rise starting in October, the Rent Guidelines Board voted Monday. The nine-member panel of mayoral appointees elected to raise rent by 3% on new one-year leases and 4.5% on two-year leases at its annual hearing inside the Museo del Barrio in East […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":8685,"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-8683","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\/8683","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=8683"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/casa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8690,"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/casa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8683\/revisions\/8690"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/casa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/casa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/casa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsettlement.org\/casa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}