NYC Rent Guidelines Board approves rent increase on 1 and 2-year leases

NEW YORK - New York City's Rent Guidelines Board voted Wednesday evening to approve rent increases on 1 and 2-year leases for rent-stabilized units across the city.

One-year leases will see a 3% increase, while two-year leases will have a 2.75% increase in the first year and 3.2% in the second year. 

The vote came at a raucous meeting Wednesday evening, where tenants and tenant advocates yelled, blew whistles, booed the board, banged cow bells and chanted "shame on you" and " rent rollbacks."

"They don't care about human rights," one tenant said. "They think they're talking to dogs, trees, and rubbish. They're not concerned about us."

The city's landlords say the increases still don't come close to what they need to maintain and improve their apartment buildings and call the process a broken system.

Mayor Eric Adams released a statement applauding the Board for "…protecting tenants from unsustainable rent increases, while also ensuring small property owners have the necessary resources to maintain their buildings and preserve high-quality, affordable homes for New Yorkers. Finding the right balance is never easy, but I believe the board has done so this year."

The Board held a series of public hearings across the city in early June for tenants and others to voice their concerns. It did not go well.

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Rikki Baker Keusch is a tenant with the Working Families Party and said, "80% of New Yorkers are rent burdened which means we're paying over 30% of our income to rent currently and 50% of New Yorkers are having trouble meeting their basic needs."

There were emotional pleas from tenants who believe the hikes would be unreasonable and detrimental to their livelihood--whereas landlords said it was still not enough.

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The rent increases will impact nearly one million rent-stabilized apartments throughout the five boroughs.

Tenants said that any kind of increase could result in them being pushed out of their homes. 

The city's landlords argue that they need additional funds to address rising property taxes, insurance costs, and building repairs.