NYC Rent Guidelines Board OKs Increases For Stabilized Units

NEW YORK CITY - If you think the rent is too damn high, it’s about to get even higher after the Rent Guidelines Board approved rent increases for New Yorkers with rent stabilized apartments Monday night.

Landlords will now be able to increase rent for stabilized units by 2.75 percent for one-year leases and 5.25 percent for two-year leases signed on or after Oct. 1, the board decided in a 5-4 vote.

The powerful board previously approved a range of increases between 2 and 4.5 percent for one-year leases and 4 percent to 6.5 percent for two-year leases. Read more: Rents Could Rise 6.5% For 2M NYers After Powerful Board's Vote

In a statement, Mayor Eric Adams praised the board's decision while acknowledging a "severe housing and affordability crisis" tenants face in the Big Apple.

"The data reviewed by the board this year makes clear that our city’s tenants are facing a severe housing and affordability crisis, and that the quality of our city’s rent stabilized homes is threatened by growing operating and maintenance costs for owners," the mayor said. "Since preliminary increases were released last month, we made clear that the high end of the proposed rent increases was untenable. That is why we are grateful for the board’s careful consideration of the data and their decision to limit increases this year."

Unsurprisingly, tenants aren’t happy with the prospect of rent increases, with advocates saying the rent adjustments don’t consider rising inflation costs.

“The Rent Guidelines Board process is broken," said Community Housing Improvement Program Executive Director Jay Martin. “Instead of this contentious process in which everyone loses, the city needs to change the equation by lowering costs, keeping rents at a level that at minimum covers inflation, and removing the need to significantly increase rents to pay for housing.”

Monday’s decision also serves as a sequel to last year’s events when members ultimately, and controversially, approved 3 percent hikes for rent-stabilized tenants with one-year leases.

"Once again, the Rent Guidelines Board has voted to increase rents on stabilized units across the city, jeopardizing the housing stability of more than one million tenants," The Legal Aid Society said in a statement Monday night. "These needless rent hikes for an already struggling population will undoubtedly lead to increased rates of homelessness, eviction, and displacement."