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Mamdani with Tascha Van Auken, commissioner at the Mayor\u2019s Office of Mass Engagement, announcing the organizing initiative on Wednesday. (Ed Reed\/Mayoral Photography Office)<\/p>\nMamdani\u2019s Office of Mass Engagement will be knocking on doors this spring, urging New Yorkers to testify at upcoming Rent Guideline Board hearings. The board will vote in June on rent adjustments for tenants in roughly 1 million rent stabilized apartments. <\/p>\n
Mamdani with Tascha Van Auken, commissioner at the Mayor\u2019s Office of Mass Engagement, announcing the organizing initiative on Wednesday. (Ed Reed\/Mayoral Photography Office)<\/p>\n
In June, the city\u2019s Rent Guidelines Board will hold public hearings as its members decide wether to raise rents this year for tenants in roughly 1 million rent stabilized apartments\u2014and the mayor wants New Yorkers to show up. <\/p>\n
Zohran Mamdani announced the launch Wednesday of Organize NYC, an effort to get more people engaged with city government and harness the grassroots momentum that fueled his odds-defying election campaign. <\/p>\n
Overseen by the Mayor\u2019s Office of Mass Engagement Commissioner Tascha Van Auken\u2014Mamdani\u2019s field director when he was running for office<\/a>\u2014Organize NYC\u2019s first big project will focus on mobilizing people around the RBG vote in June. <\/p>\n Just under half of all the city\u2019s rental apartments are rent stabilized. City staffers and volunteers will start knocking on doors this month in neighborhoods <\/a>like Flatbush and Jackson Heights to inform people about the upcoming hearings and encourage them to weigh in, the mayor said. <\/p>\n And while Mamdani campaigned on a promise to freeze the rent<\/a>, he insisted the outreach \u201cis not about telling New Yorkers what they should say\u201d and that canvassers would engage both tenants and landlords. <\/p>\n \u201cThe decision of\u00a0whether or not\u00a0to raise the rent impacts more than 2 million New Yorkers,\u201d Mamdani said. Last year, he noted, only 400 people testified at RGB hearings,<\/a> what he said \u201cshows that so many people are divorced from the very processes that\u00a0determine\u00a0their own lives.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe decision is supposed to be informed by the testimony of all those it impacts\u2014landlords, tenants,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Supporters of a freeze point to the city\u2019s ongoing affordability crisis and high homelessness rates, saying many rent stabilized households can\u2019t afford another increase (the RGB voted to raise rents every year under former Mayor Eric Adams). Rent stabilized landlords argue a freeze would make it harder for them to maintain their buildings as they struggle with rising operating costs.<\/p>\n The public will be able to testify at hearings on June 4, June 8, June 11 and June 16. More details here<\/a>. <\/p>\n Here\u2019s what else happened in housing this week\u2014<\/p>\n ICYMI, from City Limits:<\/p>\n New York City\u2019s only solar incentive is a property tax abatement that most nonprofit and affordable housing providers can\u2019t use. A proposal in Albany would change that<\/a>. <\/p>\n NYCHA is required to provide ASL interpretation to deaf or hard of hearing tenants who request it during inspections and repairs. But residents say this often doesn\u2019t happen. \u201cIt\u2019s almost been like pulling teeth<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe best way for people to move out of shelter is to have a voucher. It gives them the support that they need, and it also is economically better for New York taxpayers,\u201d says former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who heads homeless shelter provider WIN and is urging the mayor to keep his campaign promise to expand eligibility for CityFHEPS vouchers. <\/a><\/p>\n ICYMI, from other local newsrooms: <\/p>\n To reach the editor, contact [email\u00a0protected]<\/a><\/p>\n Want to republish this story? Find City Limits\u2019 reprint policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \tWe want to hear from you!<\/p>\n Take a short anonymous survey to help us deliver content to empower our community.<\/p>\n