The Rent Guidelines Board of New York voted to increase the rent for 1 million homes on Monday, May 5th. These increases will apply to rent-stabilized homes in the city. The vote is projected to be formally approved in June. The rent will increase by 2-4% for a one-year lease while a two-year lease will see an increase of 4-6%. These increases will be the largest seen in a decade. Under the leadership of former Mayor Bill de Blasio, the board kept increases in the rent low, even going a few years without increasing the rent at all.
While de Blasio adopted a seemingly progressive approach by freezing the amount for rent or implementing low increases, Mayor Eric Adams leaned towards a more balanced approach. His stance is that there should be a consideration for those paying the rent and those receiving it. According to reports, the initial increases that had been suggested by the board for one-year leases ranged between 4.5 to 9 percent. Adams thought these were too high and called for middle ground. “That’s the balance. Let this independent board do their job. And I have made it clear that [the] 9% [increase] you were hearing about was just too extreme. We need to focus on finding the right balance. Now, there’s a footnote that people should realize. I’m a small property owner. I never raised the rent of my tenants since they lived in my building. When they signed a lease, they signed a lease with me signing I would never raise your rent as long as you’re there. So we can show the compassion. At the same time, I understand what the families are going through on both ends of the spectrum,” Adams said regarding the increases.
The board voted on the increases in what was a preliminary vote. In seeking the balance that Adams speaks about, there had to be compromises between the representatives of the tenants and those of the landlords. Joseph Strasburg, who is the president of the Rent Destabilization Association, and Robert Ehrlich, who represented landlords, spoke in favor of the landlords. “Housing has costs. We need to make sure that buildings have the money to pay for those costs. If we don’t get this right, a large number could slip into dilapidation,” said Ehrlich, against the proposed percentage of increase. Strasburg mentioned how landlords are responsible for different kinds of bills such as property taxes, heating, and water along with increases caused by inflation. On the other hand, a representative for tenants on the board, Sheila Garcia, called the proposed increases “devastating.” Garcia said that an increase of 2% would be untenable for the tenants of the affected homes.
The Rent Guidelines Board is made up of nine parties that are appointed by the mayor. Five of them are representatives of the public while the tenants and landlords have two representatives each. The rent stabilization project started in 1969. The households residing in these homes earn less than the city median household salary of $67,000. The median salaries of the homes are around $44,000. The average rent of these homes is $1,269 per month compared to $1,700 charges in homes that do not fall under stabilization. Most of the people who live in these homes are people of color, with 40% of them being Latino or Hispanic and 20% being Black. These proposed increases arrive at a time when the cost of living is skyrocketing due to increased inflation and gasoline prices.
