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Rent board approves freezing rents
Millions of New York City residents will not see a rent increase in their next lease.
NEW YORK - Around 2 million New York City residents living in rent-controlled units will not see rent increases for a year and only a one percent increase during the second year of two year leases.
The Rent Guidelines Board voted 6-3 Wednesday night for the one-year freeze running from Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021. The move affects about half of the rental units in the city.
"Renters have never faced hardship like this. They desperately need relief and that’s why we fought for this rent freeze," Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. "Now, more renters than ever before will get help keeping a roof over their heads. This is one step of many we have to take to get families through this crisis—but it’s a big one."
Landlords attacked the move.
"Typical de Blasio pandemic politics, denying owners of small buildings, mostly immigrants and people of color, the rent revenue needed to operate their buildings, finance capital improvements, infuse jobs and revenue into their neighborhoods, and pay property taxes that he raises every year,” said Joseph Strasburg, president of the Rent Stabilization Association, in a statement.
The association represents 25,000 owners of the 1 million rent-stabilized apartments in the five boroughs, the largest providers of affordable housing.
"De Blasio and his rent board puppets disregarded landlords’ increased operating costs – including a nearly 6% increase in property taxes alone – and, instead, authorized an unjustifiable rent freeze under the guise of pandemic relief. They ignored the fact that New Yorkers received government stimulus and enhanced unemployment benefits, and that hundreds of thousands of households are either already back to work or returning in the weeks ahead," Strasburg continued.
An eviction moratorium for residents affected by the coronavirus pandemic expires in August. There are concerns that will lead to mass evictions. Many landlords have not had rent paid by tenants for several months. They had asked for at least a 2 percent rent increase.