In its first vote under a new mayor, the Rent Guidelines Board left the door open for a rent increase despite Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s promise of a price freeze for a million rent-stabilized tenants in New York.
The board approved a range of possible rent levels in its preliminary vote: 0 to 2% for one-year leases and between 0 to 4% for two-year leases.
The nine-member Rent Guidelines Board — six of which had been appointed by the new mayor earlier this year — settled on those figures during a rowdy hearing at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City on Thursday evening.
The vote was nonbinding. The board must by law take a final vote by the end of June.
Tenant groups and labor organizations that filled the auditorium loudly booed and demanded that the members roll back the preliminary vote that passed after all motions for a rent freeze failed.
They rallied before the vote took place outside the college, holding “Freeze the Rent” signs and demanding a halt on price increases for stabilized tenants.
Mamdani made a promised rent freeze a signature part of his campaign. The members of the board are charged to act independently from City Hall, but the rent freeze commitment looms over their vote.
Tenant-aligned board members attempted to pass a range that would have either rolled back rent or frozen it, with a proposed rent level of -3 to 0% on one-year leases and -4.5 to 0% on two-year leases. That measure failed. Afterwards, members aligned with landlords floated higher ranges: a 3 to 5.5% increase on one-year leases and 6 to 8% on two-year leases. That idea also failed to pass.
“I was very disappointed to hear the possibility that rent will still go up, particularly since we were promised a freeze,” said Douglas Ostling, 78, of Flushing, after the hearing. “I’ve lived in the city all my life. I love it, but I’m being priced out of it, and if something doesn’t change quickly, I’m going to have to move.”
In the coming weeks, the RGB will host five sessions to hear testimony from the public on the proposed rent increases before taking a final vote on June 25.
In a statement delivered after tonight’s preliminary vote, the mayor encouraged New Yorkers’ to participate in the upcoming sessions.
“New Yorkers are being crushed by the cost of living, and they need real relief,” the mayor said. “As the RGB begins its public hearings, tenants, owners and New Yorkers from every borough should make their voices heard and speak directly to what this housing crisis looks like in their lives.”
“I’m confident the board will weigh those perspectives carefully and arrive at a decision later this summer that reflects the urgency of this moment,” he continued.
In considering how much to jack up rent, the law requires the board members to take into account data on tenant and landlord finances.
According to reports prepared by board staff, landlord income was up 6% in 2024, the latest year for which it was studied, but varied widely based on the location and age of the building stock. At the same time, landlords’ costs outpaced inflation between 2025 and 2026.
On the tenants’ side, RGB research showed the median renter income grew by just 1.8% adjusted for inflation. Renters in all boroughs except The Bronx saw their incomes increase. More than half of renter households paid more than a third of their income in rent — placing them into a category known by housing experts as “rent-burdened.”
Historically, landlords have said that hikes approved by the RGB are not high enough to cover the expenses of maintaining their buildings, while tenants said they’re financially squeezed and can’t afford to pay more.
That played out last year, when the board voted on rent increases of 3% for one-year leases and 4.5% for two-year leases, after previously weighing hikes between 1.75% and 4.75% for one-year leases and 3.75% and 7.75% for two-year leases.
“We’ve been here every year, but this year feels different,” said Kit Klee, an organizer with the tenant group CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities who lives in a rent-stabilized apartment in Astoria and appeared hopeful for a rent freeze before the vote took place.
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