The New York City Rent Guidelines panel voted 7-1 to freeze the rent on almost one million rent-stabilized apartments across the five boroughs.
“I’m grateful for the board members’ thoughtful consideration of the data, including tenants’ ability to pay, cost of living and building operating costs,” stated NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani. “I’ll continue working to deliver a more affordable city by building and preserving affordable housing, lowering building operating costs like insurance, and ensuring tenants know their rights.”
The panel voted hours after Christina Smyth resigned. The panel usually has nine members, but since she left, the vote was only eight people.
Smyth protested the rent freezes, accusing the panel of ignoring data and insisting the decision was made during Mamdani’s campaign:
The board “stopped being a fact-finding body” and was rebuilt “to deliver a rent freeze” no matter what, Smyth, one of two landlord advocates on the board, wrote in her scathing resignation letter.“Everything else has been theater,” she wrote. “The hearings, the reports, the public comment, the data. None of it was ever going to change the result.”Smyth was one of three members appointed by Adams. Mamdani appointed the other six members after taking office this year.
Smyth is not wrong. Landlords raise rent when utility costs and repair items go up.
Why must people complicate economics?
Real estate is a great investment. The rent freeze likely won’t hurt the wealthier landlords, but smaller landlords? Yeah.
The smaller landlords are also working people. What about them? They’ve said they’re already struggling with those rising costs.
“We’re going to have to cut back. We’re gonna have to lay off some of the people,” said landlord Humberto Lopes, according to ABC7NY. “We’re gonna have to lay off supers. Only choice, it’s a business. People don’t get it. This is a business. It’s not a choice that this is for free.”
Last month, Mamdani threw a lifeline to a few rent-stabilized landlords, allowing them “to charge a one-time rent increase on certain empty units.”
The exemption applies only to vacant apartments “financed and regulated by the city’s housing agencies.” In other words, private landlords get screwed.
How much can the landlords increase? Officials will decide the percentage on a case-by-case basis.
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