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Friday, March 29, 2024

Historic Rent Freeze on 1M Apartments in NYC

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On Monday night, June 29, a city board voted to halt any raises in rent on over one million rent-stabilized apartments in New York City. Marking the first freeze in its 46-year history, reports the Daily News.

Furious landlords and overjoyed tenants chanting “Victory!” resulted from the Rent Guidelines Board’s vote. Representatives of the public and tenants voted yes and those of the landlords no, which ended up in a win for the ‘yeses’ 7 to 2.

Starting in October, 630,000 apartments will have the rent frozen on its one-year leases, and a 2% increase will be applied to two-year leases.

Mayor de Blasio responded Monday night saying, “This was the right call. We know tenants have been forced to make painful choices that pitted ever-rising rent against necessities like groceries, child care and medical bills. Today’s decision means relief.”

36-year-old Esteban Giron of Crown Heights told the Daily News, “This is historic and pretty amazing. This is the difference between being able to afford groceries and not.”

Prospect Heights resident Carmen Pinero, 73, said it is a triumph for her and that now it would be more difficult for her landlord “to raise the rent and get us out.”

While on the other side, landlord groups raged that this was an “unconscionable, politically driven decision” and will cause their buildings to fall into disrepair.

The president of the Rent Stabilization Association Joseph Strasburg said, “It is despicable that politics prevailed over common sense. There is no basis for a rent freeze. Ironically, de Blasio’s mantra has been the preservation of affordable housing, but his support of a rent freeze, coupled with last year’s 1% rent increase, will have the opposite effect, spurring the deterioration and eventual eradication of affordable housing.”

De Blasio asked for a rent freeze last year, but instead the board, which at that time still consisted of members appointed by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, voted for a 1% raise. Before the vote on Monday, de Blasio would not admit publicly that he wanted a freeze, but said he trusted that a fair decision would be made by his appointees.

This new board that was appointed by de Blasio was comprised of two landlord reps, two tenant reps and five representatives of the general public. Based on a decrease in the cost of fuel, board officials estimated that the costs landlords have only increased by 0.5%, which helped their decision.

Tenants PAC head Michael McKee called the decision only a “partial victory” because there is still an increase on two-year leases of 2%. He said, “A rent freeze is zero and zero.”

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