New York City’s Rent Guidelines Board voted on Wednesday to increase rents by up to 3% for tenants in more than 1 million rent-stabilized apartments.
The panel of nine mayoral appointees approved increases of up to 3% on one-year leases and a more complex increase for two-year agreements, with the first year of a lease increasing by 2.75% and the second year’s rent rising by 3.2% of the previous year’s rent.
The board decided on the increases by a 5 to 4 margin. The vote marks the annual culmination of months of public hearings and analyses of tenant and landlord finances, with a specific focus on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Demonstrators chanted, jeered and blew whistles as appointees went through various proposals, largely drowning out the panel vote.
The increases apply to new leases signed after Oct. 1 of this year for rent-stabilized apartments.
The decision drew the immediate ire of tenants and landlords alike.
Landlord groups immediately chided the board, arguing that the panel buckled to political pressure.
“The RGB ignored their own data and instead played to the intimidation of radical politicians and activists, depriving the largest providers of affordable housing of the revenue they need to keep up with skyrocketing costs,” said Joseph Strasburg, president of the Rent Stabilization Association, a group that represents property owners and managers.
The board voted last month to consider increases between 2% and 5% on one-year leases, and 4% and 7% on two-year leases.
It’s the second consecutive year that the board has increased rents by at least 3% under Mayor Eric Adams. Last year, the board approved a 3.25% hike on one-year leases after a partial rent freeze the previous year amid the global pandemic.
The board’s decisions typically correspond with the desires of the current mayor.
During Mayor Bill de Blasio’s tenure, the board voted to freeze rents three times and never instituted an increase above 1.5% for one-year leases.
Tenants packed an auditorium at Hunter College ahead of the vote, calling for a rent freeze and sharing stories about the economic hardship they are experiencing that would be worsened by a rent spike.
The board members considered a report prepared by staff that found that more than half of rent-stabilized households are considered “rent-burdened” according to federal housing guidelines, meaning that they spend more than 30% of their income on rent.
Rents continue to exceed record highs in unregulated units throughout the five boroughs after a brief dip at the height of the pandemic. Rent Guidelines Board data also shows that owners of rent-stabilized apartments are making nearly 50% more than they did in 1990 based on their “net operating income” — a metric that weighs landlord expenses and revenue before factoring in mortgage costs.
Households in rent-stabilized apartments earned a median income of about $47,000 last year, with median rents of roughly $1,400 per month, the board found.
Those numbers pale in comparison to New York City’s overall median income and its record-high rents on non-rent-stabilized apartments.
Landlords who testified at previous board meetings said they are feeling the brunt of their own rising costs, especially since state lawmakers passed a series of reforms in 2019 that capped their potential revenues. Property owners argue that they are struggling to reinvest in their buildings, a problem only made worse by unpaid rent that mounted during the pandemic.
To find out if you live in a rent-stabilized apartment, contact New York state’s housing agency, Homes and Community Renewal, and make a request.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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