A New York City panel approved rent increases for almost 1 million stabilized apartments Monday evening. The carefully watched annual vote highlighted the city’s affordability crisis, a core struggle in New York and other cities across the nation. The nine-person panel, the Rent Guidelines Board, voted to support an increase of 2.75% for one-year leases, with five voting in favor. It voted to support two-year lease increases of 5.25%. Those numbers were slightly less than those that the board approved last year. The vote Monday set the final numbers after an earlier vote on a preliminary range in April. Landlords could start raising rents in October. Deep Divisions: The votes over rent increases have drawn protests Rent-stabilized apartments house roughly one-quarter of the city’s population. In a city where rents on the open market have skyrocketed and available apartments are scarce, stabilized units are treasured finds. The median monthly rent was about $1,500 for a stabilized unit in 2023, compared with $2,000 for an unregulated apartment, according to a recent city survey. But tenants and their advocates have called on the city to freeze or reduce rents for stabilized units in recent years, as many New Yorkers struggle with the high cost of living. Landlords, for their part, have asked for increases to help cover the high costs of property taxes, insurance, mortgages and maintenance. On Monday evening, Robert Ehrlich, a board member who represents landlords, said rent-stabilized buildings are in “severe financial stress” and called for the board to be more responsive. Tenant representatives argued for changes to the board itself. Adán Soltren, one of the tenant representatives, said the process should allow the public more of a voice and include City Council oversight. He said the vote Monday would hurt New Yorkers. “People are going to be homeless because of this,” he said. “People aren’t going to be able to pay for medication because of this.” The Rent Guidelines Board examines the factors affecting both constituencies when deciding whether to allow rent increases. The board consists of two members representing tenant interests, two representing the interests of owners and five representing the general public. All members are appointed by the mayor. The vote Monday was the third consecutive year of increases. Earlier in the day, Mayor Eric Adams and Maria Torres-Springer, the deputy mayor for housing, economic development and workforce, expressed support for increases on the lower end of the expected range. “People are hurting,” Adams said at his weekly news conference Monday. But he added that he was also concerned about small landlords who have been affected by higher costs because of inflation. “We have to find a middle ground,” he said. Both landlords and tenants have been critical of the board’s votes. There have been protests at several board meetings and some have broken out into shouting matches. Justin La Mort, a managing attorney for Mobilization for Justice, a tenant group, said that rent increases were a “new source of anxiety” for tenants who were already struggling. Rodrigo Camarena, 39, a former member of the board and a tenant advocate, attended the meeting to protest the increases. “It’s heartless and it’s cruel,” he said. “It’s not what rent-stabilized housing is meant to protect.” Some Agreement: Housing is expensive for both landlords and tenants Landlords and tenants can agree on one thing: The problem of housing affordability runs deep and needs more solutions. Jay Martin, the executive director of the Community Housing Improvement Program, a trade association for property owners, said he hoped the board and other officials would stop putting renters and owners into a “Thunderdome situation” in which they have to duke it out over rent increases every year, and instead find ways to lower costs for everyone. Martin added that his organization would support helping tenants afford rent with more vouchers and public assistance. “If we don’t figure out a way to control these costs, which go up and have been going up for the last five years, every single year, then this whole scenario will continue to play out,” he said. Torres-Springer said at the news conference that the solution to the housing crisis did not lie with the Rent Guidelines Board. “We have been very focused on increasing supply,” she said. Adams has proposed zoning changes that he believes will make it easier to build housing in the city. The plan is working its way through the City Council.
