As we reported Thursday, recently appointed Rent Guidelines Board member Alex Armlovich took to social media to explain why the board won’t freeze rents.
In a remarkable series of tweets, he noted that RGB rent increases have been below inflation for 10 years.
“RGB has been setting record low rent hikes, not record high,” he posted on X. “Read carefully.”
“If you’re a senior living on a fixed income, receiving only CPI cost of living adjustments each year, your rent has been falling for the last decade,” he wrote, referring to the Consumer Price Index. “That’s neat, but it’s also why we’re seeing more distress in the pre-1974 stock outside Manhattan where regulated rents are below $1,000.”
Addressing tenants who plan to attend the board’s upcoming Bronx hearing, he continued, “That’s why we’re considering a predictable, small, inflation-based increase instead of a freeze. It’s not that it’s rigged — it’s that our job is to set rents at costs like a public utility, and we’ve been below that for years.”
In case you missed it, he just said the board has not been doing its job since the Bloomberg administration.
But more striking was the rookie board member’s attempt to explain the logic behind a rent hike to the activist tenants targeting the RGB hearing Thursday in the Bronx, where distressed, rent-stabilized buildings are concentrated.
His attempt to deliver a calm, rational explanation to emotionally charged renters is admirable, but it would be naive to think it will make any difference to them.
You’d have a better chance asking family members at a graduation ceremony to hold their applause until all the students cross the stage. Or telling New York drivers stuck in gridlock not to honk. (“If we waitin’, we honkin’,” one driver told a reporter in one of my favorite New York quotes.)
Tenants’ only reason for coming to Rent Guidelines Board meetings is to voice their opposition to an increase. This line was in a press release from four tenant groups previewing their rally before Thursday’s RGB hearing:
“VISUALS: 100-200 people, signs and chants saying ‘freeze the rent,’ and similar”
The release cited a poll showing 78 percent of New Yorkers support a rent freeze and 54 percent are considering leaving over housing costs, and that a report found that a rent freeze would save “New Yorkers” (that is, rent-stabilized tenants) “nearly $600 per month.”
Fact check: The difference between a rent freeze and what the report called “aggressive escalation” — a 7.2 percent annual increase — would be $593 in the year 2030. In the past 25 years, no RGB increase has been anywhere close to 7.2 percent. The highest was 4.5 percent, in 2008. It hasn’t exceeded 4 percent since.
Setting aside the exaggeration, the groups’ argument is that rents should be frozen because tenants want to pay less. Well, don’t we all.
What we’re thinking about: Will industry-friendly changes to 485x and the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act be part of the state’s legislative agenda next year? Some real estate lobbyists think so. Send your thoughts to eengquist@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: According to Steve Fulop, mayor of Jersey City, his city’s share of all building permits issued in New Jersey was historically 2 percent but is now 10 percent.
Elsewhere…
On June 4, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie released an analysis alleging rival mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo “has contributed more to New York City’s housing crisis than any other leader in modern history.”
The two-page report noted the surging imbalance between supply and demand during Cuomo’s tenure as governor, but did not say how Cuomo was responsible for it — only that it “happened on his watch.”
That’s not especially convincing. However, it’s true that Cuomo did not prioritize housing development the way his successor Kathy Hochul did. His demand that construction unions sign off on a new 421a resulted in the crucial development tax break lapsing for 15 months.
On the other hand, it’s hard to connect the paltry housing production of the early 2010s to any Cuomo policy. It was more the delayed effect of the Financial Crisis.
Closing time
Residential: The top residential deal recorded Thursday was $16.2 million for a 4,492-square-foot, sponsor-sale condominium unit at 111 West 57th Street in the Plaza District. Nikki Field at Sotheby’s International Realty had the listing.
Commercial: The top commercial deal recorded was $45 million for a 216,000-square-foot senior living facility at 2550 Webb Avenue in University Heights.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $15 million for a 3,933-square-foot condominium unit at 200 Amsterdam Avenue on the Upper West Side. Peter Zaitzeff and Jamie Hannon at Serhant have the listing.
Breaking Ground: The largest new building application filed was for a proposed 78,096-square-foot, 94-unit mixed-use project at 185-17 Hillside Avenue in Jamaica Estates. Monica Lopez Uran filed the permit on behalf of Howard Lorch of Ohel Children’s Home.
— Matthew Elo
