Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday announced six appointments to the city’s Rent Guidelines Board, including a new chair for the nine-member committee tasked with setting rents for stabilized apartments in the five boroughs.
The appointments mean a majority of the board will now have been chosen by Mamdani, which could allow him to deliver on his campaign promise to freeze rents for stabilized tenants.
What You Need To Know
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced six appointments to the city’s Rent Guidelines Board, including a new chair for the nine-member committee tasked with setting rents for stabilized apartments in the five boroughs
The appointments mean a majority of the board will now have been chosen by Mamdani, which could allow him to deliver on his campaign promise to freeze rents for stabilized tenants
In the coming months, the board will consider a number of factors, including cost-of-living trends, housing supply and vacancy rates, tenants’ ability to pay and public testimony before voting on rent adjustments for leases taking effect between Oct. 1, 2026, and Sept. 30, 2027
They come a day after a board member appointed by former Mayor Eric Adams resigned after accepting a new job.
Chantella Mitchell, a program director at the New York Community Trust, will serve as chair of the board, City Hall said in a news release. Sina Sinai, a senior research associate at the Jain Family Institute; Lauren Melodia, director of economic and fiscal policy at the Center for New York City Affairs at The New School; and Brandon Mancilla, Region 9A director of the United Auto Workers, were appointed as public members.
Maksim Wynn, director of development overseeing affordable and transitional housing at Procida Development Group, will serve as an owner representative, and Adán Soltren, a supervising attorney in the Housing Justice Unit Group Advocacy practice at the Legal Aid Society, was reappointed as a tenant representative, according to the release.
They join Arpit Gupta, Christina Smyth and Sagar Sharma — all appointed or reappointed by Adams in the final days of his administration — on the board.
Each year, the board votes on whether and by how much rents will change for the approximately 1 million rent-stabilized apartments across the city.
In a statement, Mamdani said he was “proud to appoint these housing, finance, and budget experts to fill the open seats on the Rent Guidelines Board.”
“I’m confident that, under the leadership of Chantella Mitchell as chair, the board will take a clear-eyed look at the complex housing landscape and the realities facing our city’s two million rent-stabilized tenants, and help us move closer to a fairer, more affordable New York,” he said. “At a moment when so many families are struggling to stay in their homes, this work could not be more important.”
About 2.4 million New Yorkers live in rent-stabilized housing. In the coming months, the board will consider a number of factors, including cost-of-living trends, housing supply and vacancy rates, tenants’ ability to pay and public testimony before voting on rent adjustments for leases taking effect between Oct. 1, 2026, and Sept. 30, 2027.
Last June, the board approved rent increases of 3% for one-year leases and 4.5% for two-year leases after weeks of public hearings. Under Adams, rent-stabilized units saw cumulative increases of 12% over four years.