NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) -- Tenants in New York City’s roughly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments will face a fourth straight year of price hikes.
The city’s Rent Guidelines Board on Monday in a 5-4 vote approved a 3% price increase for one-year leases that renew during the year beginning Oct. 1. Prices for two-year leases will rise 4.5%.
The board has been under intense pressure from both tenant advocates and landlords. Tenant groups argue that, at current rates, too many residents are already considered rent-burdened, which means they put more than 30% of their income toward housing. In 2023, before the most recent price hike took effect, nearly 46% of rent-stabilized tenants who didn’t receive assistance were rent-burdened, according to a US Census Bureau survey.
“We strongly condemn the board’s vote tonight to increase rents for the more than two million working-class New Yorkers living in rent-stabilized units,” the Legal Aid Society said in a statement after the vote.
Landlords contend that recent price increases have been too small to cover rising costs to operate and maintain buildings, including insurance and energy payments.
“While we are disappointed that the RGB once again adjusted rents below inflation, we appreciate that they stood up to political pressure calling for rent freezes that would accelerate the financial and physical deterioration of thousands of older rent-stabilized buildings,” New York Apartment Association Chief Executive Officer Kenny Burgos said in a statement.
Nearly half the city’s privately owned rentals are rent-stabilized and they remain less expensive than other apartments. The median monthly price of rent-stabilized units was $1,500 in 2023, according to the Census survey, while it was $2,000 for market-rate units.
The Board’s vote comes at a politically charged moment in the city, less than a week after democratic socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani took a commanding lead in the initial round of voting in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary, after campaigning on a promise to freeze rents in rent-stabilized apartments if he’s elected mayor.
Mayor Eric Adams, who dropped out of the Democratic primary in April but who is seeking reelection in November on an independent ballot line, appears to have taken notice after Mamdani’s upset likely victory. During Adams’ first three years as mayor, the board has voted to raise rents every year.
“I am disappointed that they approved increases higher than what I called for,” Adams said in an emailed statement. However, “while freezing the rent may sound like a catchy slogan, it is bad policy, short-sighted, and only puts tenants in harm’s way,” he said.