Board Votes to Freeze Rent Hikes on NYC’s Rent-Stabilized Apartments

The New York City Rent Guidelines Board voted 7-1 to approve a two-year freeze on rent increases for approximately one million rent-regulated apartments citywide, covering leases of one or two years. The vote was seen as a victory for Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who made a rent freeze one of his campaign promises. It was the first such freeze enacted since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The board’s vote followed the resignation of Christina Smyth, one of two landlord representatives on the board. Mamdani appointed six of the current RGB members. “This rebuilt board was required to deliver a rent freeze,” Smyth wrote in her resignation letter. “Everything since has been theater.”

In a statement following the RGB vote, James Whelan, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, blasted the decision as “terrible,” adding, “Older rent-stabilized buildings are already struggling under rising operating costs, yet the [RGB] chose to disregard those realities. This decision will mean less investment in maintenance and repairs, accelerating the deterioration of the housing stock that millions of New Yorkers call home. Tonight’s vote may be politically popular, but it will make New York’s housing crisis worse.”

Kenny Burgos, CEO of the New York Apartment Association, which represents owners of rent-stabilized properties, told the Wall Street Journal, “Our message is clear: This freeze will destroy the living conditions for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers.”