Zohran Mamdani has made a lot of eye-catching campaign promises. But one two-word phrase has made the biggest mark: “rent freeze.”
A little less than half of New York City tenants live in rent-stabilized apartments. And Mamdani, the presumed Democratic nominee for mayor, has said he would pause rent increases on those units.
That’s not really in the mayor’s power directly. Rent hikes are set by a nine-member panel — the Rent Guidelines Board. The board is slated for a June 30 vote on a rent increase for next year.
But exactly how the board works and who it answers to has come into sharper focus in the wake of Mamdani’s victory.
To landlords, the promise to freeze rents is not just irresponsible, it’s an abuse of power.
“A premeditated rent freeze is illegal,” said Kenny Burgos, head of the New York Apartment Association. “A conversation has to be had on what the Rent Guidelines Board looks like in the future, what the process should be. Should it be a math equation? Or should it remain this heavily politicized process that plays out every single year?”
A rent freeze would not only exacerbate the distress in the rent-stabilized housing stock, according to landlord groups, but would also undermine the independence and mandate of the panel. There is already speculation about a lawsuit should Mamdani’s vision come to pass.
Mayoral ties and calls for change
But just how independent is the Rent Guidelines Board now? The mayor appoints a majority of the members, and even former Mayor Bill de Blasio has said the vision of a truly independent panel is a mirage. His own administration froze rents three times, while Adams’ mayoralty has enacted steeper increases.
“I think the landlords wanted to keep it this way, because it worked for them,” said Genesis Aquino, a tenant representative on the panel. “Now, they’re scared of Mamdani and tenants’ power.”
Protecting the board’s independence from mayoral influence was once marketed as a tenant-friendly policy. When state lawmakers introduced legislation to cut the board’s nine members down to seven and make them subject to City Council approval, they billed it as a way to give tenants more power.
“Over the last four years we have seen the Rent Guidelines Board raise rents nearly 10 percent with more anticipated increases on the way this year,” Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris said in a statement about the legislation, which did not progress in Albany.
Changing the composition of the board is still a vision that resonates with some tenant advocates today. Aquino said she would support cutting down on the number of members who are meant to represent the public, as well as loosening the requirements that public members have some sort of professional housing or economic expertise. Though tenants now have Mamdani’s promises, she said, that’s not something they can rely on in the long term.
From landlords, there have also been conversations about making board deliberations more data-driven. Independent think tanks including New York University’ Furman Center have raised alarm bells about rent increases failing to cover operating costs and inflation in some boroughs, especially after a statewide 2019 law cut steeply into revenues.
In the short-term, landlords of rent-stabilized buildings say they are shocked and concerned about Mamdani’s victory, but are taking a “wait and see” approach to making any changes to their operations.
“He seems to be collecting votes based on a promise to freeze rents, which is obviously counter to my business model,” said Peter Hungerford, founder of PH Realty Capital. “But you don’t want to anticipate any changes before he’s elected.”
Read more
Rent freeze? Rents have been falling for 10 years
RGB calls for 6.3% hike on rent-regulated leases. Landlords: Please!
Watchdog warns of rent-stabilized “maintenance death spiral”
