“If you’re one of the more than 2 million New Yorkers who lives in a rent stabilized apartment, your rent is going to be frozen next year,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on Friday.
He has been racking up a slew of wins this week — the latest one being getting credit for the rent freeze on 1 million rent-stabilized apartments.
What You Need To Know
On Thursday night, the Rent Guidelines Board froze the rent on one and two-year leases for rent-stabilized tenants — the first in city history
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who campaigned on freezing rent, relished the news, celebrating with tenants in East Harlem
“If you’re one of the more than 2 million New Yorkers who lives in a rent stabilized apartment, your rent is going to be frozen next year,” Mamdani said on Friday
But landlord are pushing back. “He has been clear in what he wants to see, and then he built a Rent Guidelines Board to deliver his conclusion,” said Kenny Burgos, the CEO of the New York Apartment Association
“New York, the independent Rent Guildelines Board just froze the rent,” Mamdani added.
On Thursday night, the Rent Guidelines Board froze the rent on one and two-year leases for rent-stabilized tenants — the first in city history.
Mamdani, who campaigned on freezing rent, relished the news, celebrating with tenants in East Harlem. But landlords are pushing back.
“He has been clear in what he wants to see, and then he built a Rent Guidelines Board to deliver his conclusion,” said Kenny Burgos, the CEO of the New York Apartment Association.
Burgos accused Mamdani of establishing the board with the sole purpose of delivering on his promise. In February, the mayor appointed six members to the nine-member committee just as this year’s process was set to start.
On Thursday, an appointee of former Mayor Eric Adams resigned, alleging the board had predetermined the outcome despite being charged with looking at factors impacting both tenants and landlords.
The vote clinches a key tenet of Mamdani’s affordability agenda while relieving struggling New Yorkers from further costs. Emily Eisner, the executive director of the Economic Policy Institute, who studies housing market trends and their economic impact, told NY1 that, “It will cut into their profit, their operating income, but not so much to put them deeply in the red.”
Eisner said since the 90s, landlords of these apartments have increased their profits by more than 50%. She added that she believes landlords are financially capable of absorbing flat rents.
Eisner said the rent freeze is a good first step in a larger process of making housing more affordable in the city. She noted that more housing stock needs to be built, including affordable and market-rate apartments.
“It’s really a use every tool in the toolbox moment on affordability,” Eisner said.