A pro-landlord member of the Rent Guidelines Board resigned from her post Thursday morning, just hours before the body was scheduled to vote on how much to raise rent on rent-stabilized apartments.
Christina Smyth, a lawyer, emailed a three-page resignation statement to reporters that criticized the process of determining a rent increase — possibly a freeze — as a sham.
“This year’s RGB order was decided last year on the campaign trail,” Smyth wrote. “This rebuilt board was required to deliver a rent freeze. Everything since has been theater.”
Mayor Zohran Mamdani campaigned on a promise of freezing the rent of the city’s approximately 1 million rent-stabilized apartments. He appointed six of the nine members to the board, which is, by law, required to consider landlords’ costs, income and other data points before making an independent decision about rent hikes.
Smyth, appointed by Mayor Eric Adams, was one of two members of the board chosen to represent property owners. Two other members represent tenants, and five members represent the public.
Smyth did not immediately respond to an email with further questions. But in her statement, Smyth accused the board of crossing a “legal line” by “knowingly disregarding its own evidence of rising costs and falling income.”
Chantella Mitchell, the board chair, in a statement expressed surprise about Smith’s resignation.
“I want to take this opportunity to affirm the independence with which this year’s board members have served, along with the rigor and integrity demonstrated by the RGB staff in preparing and presenting data,” Mitchell said. “I thank them all, including Christina, for their service.”
Smyth appealed to Gov. Kathy Hochul to change a law that she argued would help fix the broken rent stabilization system by allowing landlords to invest in apartment renovations and bring rent-stabilized apartments to the market.
She didn’t name it in her statement, but the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act, a 2019 law, limited how much landlords can raise rents even when an apartment becomes vacant or after a renovation. Some property owners have argued the law prevents them from making needed repairs on older housing stock.
Smyth’s resignation won’t impede the board from voting on a rent increase Thursday night; they do not need all nine members to proceed with the decision. The board is weighing increases of between 0% and 2% for one-year leases, and between 0% and 4% for two-year leases.
Last year, the board greenlit hikes of 3% for one-year leases and 4.5% on two-year leases.
The board voted to freeze the rent on one-year leases three previous times under Mayor Bill de Blasio.
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