New York City’s Rent Guidelines Board is considering increases of 2 to 4.5% on new one-year leases for tenants in roughly 1 million stabilized apartments, before a binding vote in June. The board is also weighing a 4 to 6.5% rent hike on two-year leases.
The nine-member panel of mayoral appointees voted for the range of potential increases during an annual hearing on Tuesday after previously considering reports detailing tenant incomes and landlord expenses amid the city’s affordable housing crisis. The range is just a preliminary step to inform the final decision-making process, said board Chair Nestor Davidson. But the final increase normally falls within the range set during the preliminary vote, according to RGB records. The new rents would affect leases signed after Oct. 1.
The typically raucous meeting culminated in the board’s two tenant representatives exiting the stage ahead of the vote to oppose an increase. About 200 tenants joined them, filling the auditorium at LaGuardia College, banging inflatable noisemakers and chanting slogans against rent increases and evictions.
“I’ve been at this for three years now, and each year the board has made the decision to further hurt tenants by raising rents significantly,” said tenant member Adán Soltren, an attorney. “You wonder why some people call it the ‘Rent Increase Board.’”
The board’s votes typically reflect the will of the mayor who appointed the members. Under Mayor Eric Adams, the board has twice voted to increase rents by at least 3%. Last year’s final 3% increase came after the board considered a range of 2% to 5%.
In a statement, Adams said the 6.5% increase went “far beyond what is reasonable” to ask of tenants.
“Tenants are feeling the squeeze of a decades-long affordability crisis, which has been accelerated by restrictive zoning laws and inadequate tools that have made it harder and harder to build housing,” Adams said in the statement. “Our team is taking a close look at the preliminary ranges voted on by the Rent Guidelines Board this evening and while the Board has the challenging task of striking a balance between protecting tenants from infeasible rent increases and ensuring property owners can maintain their buildings as costs continue to rise.”
In eight years under Mayor Bill de Blasio, in contrast, the board voted to freeze rents three times and never approved a rent increase above 1.5%.
Tenant groups have been urging board members to consider ongoing economic challenges for renters, including rising inflation and stagnant wages, as well as board reports suggesting rent-stabilized landlords have been faring pretty well.
RGB data shows the median household in a rent-stabilized apartment earns about $60,000 – less than the city median income – and about half of all tenants spend at least 30% of their income on rent, an arrangement the federal government considers “rent-burdened.”
Robert Desir, a staff attorney in the Legal Aid Society’s Civil Reform Unit, blasted the proposed range and said increases will “inevitably lead to higher rates of eviction, displacement and homelessness.”
“This increase will have devastating consequences for low-income tenants, many of whom are already rent burdened or severely rent burdened,” Desir said.
Landlord groups counter that they’re also feeling the effects of inflation, along with skyrocketing insurance premiums and rising labor costs. The board’s internal reports show landlord expenses ticked up last year, while their incomes stayed about the same, aside from dramatic increases in Manhattan.
The Rent Stabilization Association, a landlord trade group that has sued unsuccessfully to eliminate rent regulations, said owners need to raise rents to cover needed renovations on older rent-stabilized apartments.
RSA policy analyst Kelly Farrell said rents are failing to cover “constantly escalating operating costs.”
“This trend has to change for the sake of owners, tenants, and the city’s affordable housing stock,” Farrell said.
But many tenants and their advocates say aren’t buying that argument.
Before the hearing, about 200 renters from across the city rallied on the sidewalk to call for a rent rollback and to speak out about deteriorating conditions in their apartments.
“We pay the rent, but then they don’t upkeep the buildings and buildings are crumbling,” said Sandra Mitchell, a chaplain living in the Fordham section of the Bronx. “So it’s not fair that we keep paying more and more in rent increases.”
Evely Rivera, a clerical worker from the Bronx, said she is spending most of her income on rent, and still deals with mold, leaks and other problems.
“Every increase affects us,” said Rivera, 60. “Most of the money goes to the rent.”
Tenants, landlords and other New Yorkers will get a chance to weigh in on the proposed increases at a series of public meetings over the next two months. The first scheduled meeting is May 23 in Manhattan.
The final vote is scheduled for June 17.
This story has been updated with comment from Mayor Eric Adams.