On April 30, 2024, the Rent Guidelines Board released proposed guidelines for rent stabilized homes. The proposed guidelines, if approved, will dictate the permitted rent increases for rent stabilized apartments, lofts, and hotels for the time period between October 1, 2004 and September 30, 2025.
For rent stabilized apartments, the proposed adjustments for one-year leases starting on or after October 1, 2023 and before September 30, 2025 are a 2 to 4.5 percent increase. For two-year leases starting in the same timeframe, the proposed increase is 4 to 6.5 percent. In comparison, for the period of October 2023 to September 2024, the Rent Guidelines Board had approved a 3 percent increase for one-year leases, and for two year leases agreed on a 2.75 percent increase for the first year, and a 3.2 percent increase for the second year, excluding other increases other than the first-year increase.
For rent stabilized lofts, the proposed one-year increase is from 2 to 4.5 percent. The proposed two year increase is 4 to 6.5 percent.
For rent stabilized hotels, the proposed allowable level of rent adjustment is zero percent for all types of buildings.
The next public meeting for the Rent Guidelines Board is scheduled for Thursday, May 23, 2024 at 9:30 AM at the Landmarks Preservation Commission Conference Room at 1 Center Street, 9th Floor. The meeting will also be livestreamed on the Rent Guidelines Board’s Youtube channel. Further meetings will be scheduled and details will be shared on the Board’s website here.
The proposed increases come at a time where New Yorkers are already facing one of the lowest rental vacancies in decades, and as the administration continues to make various efforts to build more housing to address the ever rising cost of renting in New York City. The potential increase of 6.5 percent for some tenants was highly controversial, including among members of the Rent Guidelines Board; the nine-person board’s two tenant representatives, Genesis Aquino and Adán Soltren walked out of the meeting with hundreds of tenants in opposition to the large increase.
Following the guidelines release, Mayor Eric Adams stated, “Tenants are feeling the squeeze of a decades-long affordability crisis, which has been accelerated by restrictive zoning laws and inadequate tools that have made it harder and harder to build housing. Our team is taking a close look at the preliminary ranges voted on by the Rent Guidelines Board this evening and while the Board has the challenging task of striking a balance between protecting tenants from infeasible rent increases and ensuring property owners can maintain their buildings as costs continue to rise, I must be clear that a 6.5 percent increase goes far beyond what is reasonable to ask tenants to take on at this time. I know well that small property owners also face growing challenges, and I encourage them to work with the city to utilize our many preservation tools so that, together, we can work to stabilize buildings and neighborhoods, all while keeping tenants in their homes.”
Council Member Shaun Abreu, who has also worked as a tenant rights attorney, stated that the 6.5 percent potential increase showed “how dangerously out of touch [the Board is] with our affordability crisis.”
Advocates also spoke out against the proposed increases. The Legal Aid Society stated, “We strongly condemn the Rent Guidelines Board for their preliminary vote to increase rents for New Yorkers living in rent stabilized units. This increase will have devastating consequences for low-income tenants, many of whom are already rent burdened or severely rent burdened. Regardless of the disappointing outcome of tonight’s vote, the Board still has the opportunity to reconsider this decision and vote for a much needed rent freeze come the final vote in June. Before then, we urge the Board to listen to the cries of tenants and take into account how any rent increase will inevitably lead to higher rates of eviction, displacement and homelessness for the more than two million New Yorkers who reside in a rent stabilized dwelling.”
The final vote is set for June 17th.
By: Veronica Rose (Veronica is the Editor of CityLand and a New York Law School graduate, Class of 2018.)