The Rent Guidelines Board hearing on Wednesday night was unlike any other in its history. 

Held via video conference, because of coronavirus, board members cast their votes without the cheers and jeers of tenants and owners. 

 

What You Need To Know


  • The Rent Guidelines Board voted to freeze rent for the third time in seven years for the city's rent stabilized housing.

  • Tenants had proposed a rent freeze on both one and two year leases, but that failed with a vote of three in favor and six against.

  • A proposal by owners sought a 2% increase on one year leases and a 5% increase on two year leases, which also failed with a vote of two in favor and seven against.

  • The new guidelines go into effect on October 1st, 2020 and the decision impacts the city’s roughly 1 million rent stabilized apartments.

In a final vote of six in favor to three against, the measure including a rent freeze for one year leases on rent stabilized housing passed Wednesday.

The proposal passed also includes a rent freeze for the first year of second year leases, to be followed by a 1% increase the following year. 

The new guidelines go into effect on October 1st, 2020.

“Renters have never faced hardship like this,” said NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio. “They desperately need relief and that’s why we fought for this rent freeze. Now, more renters than ever before will get help keeping a roof over their heads. This is one step of many we have to take to get families through this crisis—but it’s a big one.”

The decision impacts the city’s roughly one million rent stabilized apartments. 

David Reiss, chair of the board, said, despite this year's extraordinary circumstances, that 200 written and video submissions were reviewed as part of the process. 

"The annual process the board used year after year, which relied on face to face meetings and hearings, was turned upside down overnight, yet the board had to adapt to meet our legal mandate, leaving us no choice with virtual meetings and hearings," Reiss said.  

Neither tenants nor owners got everything they wanted out of the decision. 

"Despite data demonstrating the unprecedented economic impact of COVID-19 on rent-burdened New Yorkers and that landlord's continue to enjoy healthy returns, the board has cast its vote with disregard for the most vulnerable tenants," said Adriene Holder, Attorney-in-Charge of the Civil Practice at The Legal Aid Society. 

"We find any rent increase in the middle of a pandemic to be unconscionable. We are glad that the Rent Guidelines Board and the mayor are giving tenants some relief with these historic low increases," said Ava Farkas, who is the Met Council's Executive Director. 

Tenants had proposed a rent freeze on both one and two year leases, a deal which failed to pass with a vote of three in favor and six against. 

A proposal by owners sought a 2% increase on one year leases and a 5% increase on two year leases.

That measure also failed with only two votes in favor and seven against. 

“De Blasio and his rent board puppets disregarded landlords’ increased operating costs – including a nearly 6% increase in property taxes alone and, instead, authorized an unjustifiable rent freeze under the guise of pandemic relief,” said Joseph Strasburg, president of the Rent Stabilization Association. “They ignored the fact that New Yorkers received government stimulus and enhanced unemployment benefits, and that hundreds of thousands of households are either already back to work or returning in the weeks ahead.”

Tenant members of the board called the owners proposal "tone deaf.”

"It ignores the fact that property taxes have to be higher because we don’t tax the rich like we should ... it ignores 10 to 20 dollars means people might not be able to feed themselves or buy their own medication," said Sheila Garcia, a tenant member of the board.