New York City’s 2 million rent-stabilized tenants will almost certainly see their rents rise for the fifth year in a row after the panel charged with deciding rates approved hikes during a raucous preliminary vote Wednesday evening.
The Rent Guidelines Board agreed to a range of 1.75% to 4.75% increases for one-year leases and 4.75% to 7.75% for two-year leases at the chaotic vote in Long Island City. Those figures will be finalized in a vote this summer.
The vote comes as most Democratic candidates for mayor have expressed support for a rent freeze amid an ongoing housing crisis.
The nine-person panel of mayoral appointees — two landlord reps, two tenant reps and five public ones — is tasked with weighing the interests of both sides, and decided in a 5-4 vote all but drowned out by the crowd of tenants.
Last year, the board ultimately approved hikes of 2.75% for one-year leases and 5.25% for two-year leases.
Approximately half of all city apartments are rent stabilized, ensuring they remain comparatively affordable. Advocates have long called for the RGB to freeze or rollback the rents as tenants struggle with the twin housing and affordability crises.
“If the rent goes up again people will suffer,” said Xie Hua Ying, a Chinatown resident and home care worker who spends 30% of her income on rent. “This is how they try to push people like us, the working people, out of New York.”
The upcoming primary was front and center for protesters, with widespread criticism of Mayor Adams and signs reading “Want our votes? Freeze our rent.”
“We have the power to decide this election and we’re going to use that power,” said Joanne Grell, co-chair of the Freeze the Rent Campaign. “We are going to fight all the way to the ballot box.”
But owner groups were also upset by the board’s proposed ranges, citing the climbing costs of maintenance, insurance and property taxes.
“This RGB panel is on the same course as its predecessors of under-indexing rent increases; the preliminary range inexplicably doesn’t follow the math of its own data, which indicates a starting point of 6.3% for this year’s rent adjustment,” said Ann Korchak, board president of Small Property Owners of New York, a landlord group. “The RGB must now take bold action, departing from its preliminary range and setting higher rent increases.”
The housing crunch has emerged as a key issue in the crowded Democratic mayoral primary. Freezing rents has become a particularly hot topic, with more than three in four voters in support.
Mayor Adams, himself a landlord, seemingly came out against a rent freeze on Monday and emphasized the need to “protect small property owners.” Mayoral contender Andrew Cuomo expressed similar skepticism in his housing platform.
Meanwhile, left-leaning Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani has made freezing the rent central to his campaign, pledging to appoint board members sympathetic to tenants. Most other Democrats, including Comptroller Brad Lander and state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, have taken the more moderate stance of opposing rent hikes this year but not for the long term.
“Tonight, the board made a challenging decision to approve a preliminary range for rent-stabilized lease adjustments aiming to strike a balance between protecting the quality of rent stabilized homes as costs continue to rise without overburdening tenants with infeasible rent increases,” Mayor Adams said in a statement. “But I must be clear that an increase as much as 7.75 percent is far too unreasonable of a burden for tenants, especially as our entire city is feeling the squeeze of a 1.4 percent housing vacancy rate and a decades-long affordability crisis. New Yorkers simply cannot bear these costs.”
Mamdani was the only candidate to appear.
“We do not simply say the Rent Guidelines Board made this decision, Eric Adams made this decision,” he told the crowd.
He also took a swipe at Cuomo, whom he said “wrapped himself in the arms of the Real Estate Board of New York.”
The board’s final vote will likely take place in June and any changes will take effect Oct. 1.
Originally Published: April 30, 2025 at 8:31 PM EDT
