NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) -- Outgoing Mayor Eric Adams has named four members to the Rent Guidelines Board, potentially jeopardizing Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s vow to freeze rents on 1 million stabilized apartments.
A fifth board member will carry over their term on the nine-member panel into 2026, leaving Mamdani to contend with a majority who were selected by Adams. The current mayor has raised concerns about the incoming mayor’s plans to freeze rents.
Mamdani’s success will hinge in part on who sits on the powerful board, which decides on rent hikes, and a stacked panel could constrain his push for a freeze, at least in the first year of his term. Earlier this year the board approved a 3% price increase for one-year leases by a narrow margin.
Landlords and business groups argue that, despite rising rents on price-stabilized units, rental income isn’t keeping pace with faster inflation and escalating expenses. They contend Mamdani’s proposal would devastate property finances and ultimately reduce housing supply. Tenant and housing advocates, by contrast, say a rent freeze is crucial relief after years of increases.
Adams and members of his administration share the concerns about the potential damage to quality, costs and supply from a rent freeze, Bloomberg reported earlier, citing a person with knowledge of the matter.
“We’re using every tool in our toolbox to tackle our city’s housing crisis, and that includes appointing smart, seasoned experts to the city’s Rent Guidelines Board,” Adams said in a statement Thursday. “These respected appointees bring decades of experience in the housing sector, and I am confident they will serve as responsible stewards of our city’s housing stock, using facts and data to reach the right decision for both tenants and property owners.”
Adams reappointed Arpit Gupta, an associate professor of finance at New York University’s Stern School of Business, and Christina Smyth, owner of Smyth Law PC, according to the statement.
He newly appointed Sagar Sharma, deputy director at Legal Services NYC, where he has worked in the housing unit since 2018, as well as Lliam Finn, a senior financial adviser with Merrill Lynch.
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