Tag Archives: NYC Mayor

NYC Rent Adjustments and Freezes

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NY1 interviewed me this morning in Former Rent Guidelines Board Chair Talks Process, Possibility of Freezing Rent: 

Mayor Zohran Mamdani promised to freeze the rent on nearly 1 million stabilized apartments as a signature part of his campaign.

Despite a late push by former Mayor Eric Adams to lock up the rent board for a year, Mamdani was able to appoint a majority of the members who will decide in June whether they agree with his push for a rent freeze.

David Reiss, a former chair of the Rent Guidelines Board, joined “Mornings On 1” to talk about the process and the plausibility of the plan.

Click the link to watch the full interview.

Pat Kiernan and I discussed the column I wrote with Nestor Davidson about the process for determining rent adjustments for NYC rent-stabilized units.

 

Rent Freezes in NYC

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Zohran Mamdani, Democratic Nominee for Mayor of NYC

The New York Times quoted me in Free Buses and Billions in New Taxes. Can Mamdani Achieve His Plans? It reads, in part,

A major pillar of Mr. Mamdani’s economic plan is housing: He wants to build 200,000 units of affordable housing and freeze rent on the city’s nearly one million rent-stabilized apartments.

But to build, he has said the city will have to borrow $70 billion, exceeding its debt limit by some $30 billion. Going over the limit would require state approval.

Freezing rent, on the other hand, is relatively straightforward and has precedent. But there are consequences.

Mayors cannot freeze rent on their own, but they do appoint the nine members on the Rent Guidelines Board, which sets rents on the city’s rent-stabilized units.

David Reiss, who served on the board under Mr. de Blasio, said that before it voted, members generally considered the overall state of housing in the city, including affordability, landlord expenses and economic conditions.

He said that members could decide that affordability was the most important factor and vote to freeze rents, as they did in 2015, 2016 and 2020.

“A rent freeze would meet the needs of a lot of people who are having a hard time keeping up with their rent,” Mr. Reiss said, “but it’s an unsustainable operation.”

Landlords, including those whose buildings have a large majority of rent-stabilized units, are increasingly saying that they are not collecting enough rent to maintain units.

“Are we going to be pushing a distinct portion of the housing market into great distress because their expenses are outstripping their income?” Mr. Reiss said.