{"id":279782,"date":"2026-06-27T11:05:05","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T11:05:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/279782\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T11:05:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T11:05:05","slug":"mamdani-froze-the-rent-for-a-million-new-yorkers-these-bronx-tenants-say-he-left-them-behind-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/279782\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani froze the rent for a million New Yorkers \u2014 these Bronx tenants say he left them behind"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York City\u2019s Rent Guidelines Board made history Thursday night, voting to freeze one- and two-year leases<\/a> on nearly 1 million stabilized apartments in a landmark 7-1 decision<\/a> that fulfilled Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s signature campaign promise.<\/p>\n

But, in The Bronx, the celebrations didn\u2019t reach Tracey Towers \u2014 a 38- and 41-story affordable housing complex.<\/p>\n

Its landlord, RY Management, formally requested an increase earlier this month that would raise rents 15% in the first year, followed by 5% in each of the next two years and 3% in the fourth, compounding to a total of 30.59%.<\/p>\n

\"Mayor<\/p>\n

Mayor Zohran Mamdani scored a historic win Thursday night when the city\u2019s Rent Guidelines Board voted to freeze rents on nearly 1 million stabilized apartments \u2014 but the celebration rang hollow for residents of Tracey Towers. Michael Brochstein\/ZUMA \/ SplashNews.com<\/p>\n

\"Tracey<\/p>\n

Tracey Towers, an 871-unit Mitchell-Lama complex in the Bronx, is now facing a proposed 31% rent hike over four years. Wikimedia<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because the complex is part of the city\u2019s Mitchell-Lama program, a mid-century initiative that secured affordable rents through tax breaks and low-interest loans to developers.<\/p>\n

Last night\u2019s freeze covers rent-stabilized apartments in buildings with six or more units built before 1974.<\/p>\n

Tracey Towers, completed that same year, is governed by an entirely different program \u2014 one with no rent cap, no guidelines board oversight and no mechanism to shield its 871 households from what could be the steepest rent increase<\/a> they have ever seen.<\/p>\n

Unlike stabilized apartments, where the Rent Guidelines Board votes each year on allowable increases, Mitchell-Lama developments are overseen by the city\u2019s Department of Housing Preservation and Development \u2014 and state law requires HPD to approve rent hikes sufficient to cover a building\u2019s operating costs.<\/p>\n

The mayor\u2019s influence over the Rent Guidelines Board, which was central to delivering Thursday\u2019s freeze, simply does not extend here.<\/p>\n

A one-bedroom currently renting for $1,344 would climb to roughly $1,750 by the end of the phase-in.<\/p>\n

\"Because<\/p>\n

Because the development falls under a separate city program with no rent cap and no guidelines board oversight, state law effectively ties the city\u2019s hands, requiring HPD to approve increases sufficient to cover the building\u2019s mounting costs \u2014 including a three-year mortgage delinquency. Jaysun Silver\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

The juxtaposition is creating a political problem for a mayor whose brand is built on tenant relief.<\/p>\n

Six elected officials, including City Council Speaker Julie Menin and Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, sent Mamdani a letter Thursday \u2014 hours before the freeze vote \u2014 arguing that he has \u201cthe authority and tools necessary to reduce or avoid a rent increase of this magnitude,\u201d according to the New York Times.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

The City Council plans to hold a hearing on the matter in July.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a situation where, in an affordability crisis, raising the rent 30% on these Mitchell-Lama residents is completely unacceptable,\u201d Menin said. \u201cWe have real concerns about how this situation got to this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesman for the mayor said the administration would make \u201ccritical investments\u201d in developments like Tracey Towers, but that state law required the city to back the increase.<\/p>\n

\"Six<\/p>\n

Six elected officials have urged Mamdani to use financing and subsidy tools at his disposal to blunt the increase, but the administration has so far said state law requires them to back it, leaving tenants who say they voted for the mayor based on his affordability promises now questioning whether those promises were ever meant for them. Reuven Fenton<\/p>\n

HPD Commissioner Dina Levy, who fielded questions from distressed residents at a tenant meeting earlier this month, said the rent spike was not meant to fund capital improvements but to address a deeper financial collapse.<\/p>\n

The building is three years behind on its mortgage and failing to cover basic operating costs, she told tenants. HPD is separately allocating $36 million toward repairs including faulty elevators and leaky roofs.<\/p>\n

But the financial troubles did not soften the blow for residents on fixed incomes, many of whom have already absorbed increases of 22.21% between 2022 and 2024.<\/p>\n

Tony Taylor, 79, the former tenant association president, put it plainly after the meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I retired, back in 2009, it was affordable. Now I\u2019m right at the envelope. I\u2019m pushing the envelope now,\u201d he previously told The Post. \u201cWhat do I do? Do I take my meds? Do I eat?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

New York City Councilmember Eric Dinowitz. LightRocket via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Councilman Eric Dinowitz, who represents the district, captured the disconnect in a single line.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you think about the Rent Guidelines Board, people are apoplectic that they\u2019re even considering a 2% rent increase,\u201d he told the Times. \u201cBut the city otherwise seems fine with a 30.59% rent increase.\u201d<\/p>\n

About a third of Tracey Towers residents hold federal Section 8 vouchers or qualify for city exemption programs that protect seniors and people with disabilities from the increases, meaning they will see no change in what they pay out of pocket. For the rest, Thursday night\u2019s celebration was someone else\u2019s victory.<\/p>\n

Jean Hill, a retired bookkeeper who serves as president of the tenant association, said the situation amounted to a betrayal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is not the platform the mayor ran on,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City\u2019s Rent Guidelines Board made history Thursday night, voting to freeze one- and two-year leases on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,15021,107110,18046,129,131,130,107352,82],"class_list":["post-279782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-rent-guidelines-board","tag-rent-increase","tag-residents","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news","tag-tracey-towers","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}