Neighbors Cheer Historic Rent Freeze Approved By City Board Last Night
For the first time in New York City’s history, the Rent Guidelines Board voted Monday night to green-light a rent freeze for the city’s approximate two million residents living in rent-stabilized homes, eliciting cheers of approval from elected officials and neighbors who have long called for relief for tenants.
The board, which regulates rent for the 1.2 million rent-stabilized apartments in the city, voted 7-2 to place a freeze on one-year leases, as well as approved a 2 percent increase for two-year leases. The vote affects lease renewals signed between October 1, 2015 and September 30, 2016.
This move from the board, which consists of nine members appointed entirely by the mayor, fulfills a campaign pledge Mayor Bill de Blasio made while running for office in 2013.
“This is a historic moment,” de Blasio said in a press statement. “A rent freeze will have a very tangible and fundamental impact on the lives of New Yorkers.”
Last night’s vote followed a report issued by the board earlier this year showing landlords of rent-stabilized buildings had experienced their smallest increase in operating costs since 2002 — 0.5 percent — a jump so minute that elected officials and tenant advocate groups immediately said it should translate to financial relief for tenants.
Not everyone was pleased with the decision, and Joseph Strasburg, the president of the Rent Stabilization Association, slammed the freeze as an “unconscionable, politically driven decision to carry out de Blasio’s campaign promise of two years ago,” the New York Times reported.
“A rent freeze on the surface may sound pro-tenant,” Strasburg told the Times. “but the reality is landlords will now have to forgo repairing, maintaining and preserving their apartments, which will trigger the deterioration of quality, affordable housing de Blasio pretends to care about.”
Borough President Eric Adams, however, disagreed with Strasburg.
“As a small property owner and landlord, I have long understood that it is possible to make a rent freeze work because I have managed to provide it for years to the tenants in my own building,” Adams said. “This is the right thing to do for our tenant population that is struggling to make it from paycheck to paycheck, spending an inordinate amount of their earnings on having a safe place to call home.”
The Pratt Area Community Council (PACC) also expressed excitement about the news.
“I heard a lot from tenants last night that this is the first time in history that they have gotten a rent freeze,” said Crystal Dixon, a community and tenant organizer with PACC. “This means that a lot of tenants will be able to afford to stay in their home.”
Still, “the fight needs to continue,” Dixon continued.
“The rent laws still have not been renewed, so tenants need to continue the momentum, putting the word out there and letting friends and neighbors know what’s happening.”
To that end, PACC has a Tenants Rights Workshop focusing on rent laws coming up on Thursday, July 16 from 6-8pm at 226 Lefferts Place. Discussions will surround what rent laws mean for tenants (if it hasn’t been renewed by then); if rent laws are renewed, “then we’ll discuss changes to upcoming rent laws.”
The Flatbush Tenant Coalition, which had been at the forefront of fighting for a rent freeze, too threw their support behind the vote, writing that, “this amazing victory was the result of a multi-year campaign led by NYC tenant groups and advocates.”
Numerous advocates noted that this victory comes on the heels of Albany failing to significantly strengthen the state’s rent laws.
“Solving our affordable housing crisis is not an easy task, and it will require hard choices,” BBP Adams said. “However, the needs of many must always outweigh the greed of a few. At a time where leaders in Albany have failed to stand up for the tenants that make this city’s greatness possible, it is more important than ever that leaders in New York City have stood up for them.”
Councilmember Laurie Cumbo agreed that more “hard choices” are needed.
“In order to preserve the socioeconomic diversity that is integral to our identity as a city, we must continue to take proactive measures to ensure that our neighbors are not displaced from their communities,” Cumbo wrote in a statement. “Despite this incredible win, we still have unfinished business in Albany where state lawmakers failed to strengthen rent regulations to protect tenants last week. Instead, they voted to renew rent laws for an additional four years. I encourage you to continue to raise your voices and petitions, because the battle for affordable housing is not yet over,”
To read last night’s decision from the RGB, you can go here, and to find out more about how this could directly affect you, go here.