Zohran Mamdani’s campaign promise of a rent freeze inches closer to the finish line. On Thursday evening the Rent Guidelines Board, the independent body that decides on annual rental adjustments for the city’s 1 million rent-stabilized apartments, issued its preliminary vote. Crowds of tenants showed up inside La Guardia Community College in Queens as the board voted. It set a range between 0 and 2 percent for one-year leases and between 0 and 4 percent for two-year leases. These numbers aren’t binding, but the final vote, which will happen at the end of June, traditionally falls within the ranges (which means the rent freeze is still a possibility).
The annual meetings are always something of a circus, and this year is only more amped up with Mamdani’s promise of a freeze. (There were all the usual boos when the owner representatives proposed a larger increase and chants in support of the tenant member’s proposed rent rollback.) There are nine members on the board, and six of them were appointed by Mamdani, giving him the majority he needs. The board, though, is supposed to act independently and consider the data. Its research shows that between 2023 and 2024, the net operating income for buildings containing rent-stabilized units was up in every borough except the Bronx — citywide, it increased by 6 percent. (Landlords of this type of housing, however, have always claimed that without being able to raise the rents, they will not have the income to maintain and improve their buildings or pay off their loans.)
