The New York City Rent Guidelines Board voted 7-1 on Thursday to freeze rents for roughly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments, delivering Mayor Zohran Mamdani a major policy victory six months into his term. The freeze, which applies 0% increases to both one- and two-year leases beginning Oct. 1, fulfills a signature campaign promise and hands Mamdani a win that his administration has been building toward since he took office, as MSI previously reported in its coverage of his pre-inauguration agenda setting out his affordability platform.
Mamdani called the decision a historic victory for tenants, according to a statement Thursday.
The board has frozen one-year leases only three times previously, according to news reports, and had never before approved a freeze for two-year leases. The vote came over objections from some rent-stabilized landlords who cited rising costs for insurance, utilities, and other expenses as reasons for an increase.
The board is legally required to consider economic conditions — including taxes, utilities, maintenance, and other data — in its decision, a requirement that opponents are likely to cite in anticipated legal challenges to the freeze.
One board member resigned hours before the vote, saying the outcome was a foregone conclusion. Christina Smyth, a landlord and lawyer, said in a resignation letter that the decision was already “decided last year on the campaign trail” and cemented by Mamdani’s six appointments to the nine-member board in February. “This rebuilt board was required to deliver a rent freeze. Everything since has been theater,” Smyth wrote, according to a copy of the letter reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The vote caps a week of political momentum for Mamdani, who on Tuesday saw three left-wing candidates he endorsed win Democratic congressional primaries against establishment-backed opponents, as MSI reported.
The New York Apartment Association, which represents building owners, warned that the freeze could have negative consequences for the housing stock. “Our message is clear: This freeze will destroy the living conditions for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers,” said Kenny Burgos, the association’s CEO, according to The Wall Street Journal. The group said the freeze could push landlords who own both market-rate and rent-stabilized units to raise prices on market-rate apartments to compensate for the loss, and that some properties could end up in foreclosure.
Pressure on the rent-stabilized sector intensified in 2019, when then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law tightening rent regulations, in part by preventing landlords from converting rent-stabilized apartments to market-rate units when they became vacant. Many landlords have said those changes made it harder to keep up with upkeep and other costs.
Mamdani’s office extended some relief to property owners ahead of the vote. Last month, Mamdani announced that eligible apartment owners would be able to charge a one-time rent increase on certain empty units, even if a rent freeze was enacted. In April, the city launched a new city-backed insurance program aimed at cutting apartment owners’ insurance costs. The city also created a $5 million loan program to help landlords pay tenants’ overdue rent and avoid evictions.
Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, campaigned on a promise of no rent increases throughout his four-year term. “Freeze the rent” was a rallying cry of his mayoral campaign and a focal point of his plan to make the city more affordable.
The vote may face legal challenges from those who oppose the freeze.