In its first vote beneath a brand new mayor, the Lease Tips Board left the door open for a lease enhance regardless of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s promise of a value freeze for one million rent-stabilized tenants in New York.
The board permitted a spread of attainable lease ranges in its preliminary vote: 0 to 2% for one-year leases and between 0 to 4% for two-year leases.
The nine-member Lease Tips Board — six of which had been appointed by the brand new mayor earlier this yr — settled on these figures throughout a rowdy listening to at LaGuardia Neighborhood School in Lengthy Island Metropolis on Thursday night.
The vote was nonbinding. The board should by legislation take a ultimate vote by the top of June.
Tenant teams and labor organizations that stuffed the auditorium loudly booed and demanded that the members roll again the preliminary vote that handed in any case motions for a lease freeze failed.
They rallied earlier than the vote came about outdoors the faculty, holding “Freeze the Lease” indicators and demanding a halt on value will increase for stabilized tenants.
Mamdani made a promised lease freeze a signature a part of his marketing campaign. The members of the board are charged to act independently from Metropolis Corridor, however the lease freeze dedication looms over their vote.
Tenant-aligned board members tried to move a spread that may have both rolled again lease or frozen it, with a proposed lease stage of -3 to 0% on one-year leases and -4.5 to 0% on two-year leases. That measure failed. Afterwards, members aligned with landlords floated greater ranges: a 3 to five.5% enhance on one-year leases and 6 to eight% on two-year leases. That concept additionally didn’t move.
“I used to be very dissatisfied to listen to the likelihood that lease will nonetheless go up, notably since we had been promised a freeze,” stated Douglas Ostling, 78, of Flushing, after the listening to. “I’ve lived within the metropolis all my life. I like it, however I’m being priced out of it, and if one thing doesn’t change shortly, I’m going to have to maneuver.”
Within the coming weeks, the RGB will host 5 periods to listen to testimony from the general public on the proposed lease will increase earlier than taking a ultimate vote on June 25.
In a assertion delivered after tonight’s preliminary vote, the mayor inspired New Yorkers’ to take part within the upcoming periods.
“New Yorkers are being crushed by the price of dwelling, they usually want actual reduction,” the mayor stated. “Because the RGB begins its public hearings, tenants, homeowners and New Yorkers from each borough ought to make their voices heard and converse on to what this housing disaster seems to be like of their lives.”
“I’m assured the board will weigh these views rigorously and arrive at a call later this summer time that displays the urgency of this second,” he continued.
In contemplating how a lot to jack up lease, the legislation requires the board members to take into consideration knowledge on tenant and landlord funds.
In line with studies ready by board workers, landlord revenue was up 6% in 2024, the most recent yr for which it was studied, however diverse extensively based mostly on the situation and age of the constructing inventory. On the similar time, landlords’ prices outpaced inflation between 2025 and 2026.
On the tenants’ aspect, RGB analysis confirmed the median renter revenue grew by simply 1.8% adjusted for inflation. Renters in all boroughs besides The Bronx noticed their incomes enhance. Greater than half of renter households paid greater than a 3rd of their revenue in lease — inserting them right into a class identified by housing specialists as “rent-burdened.”
Traditionally, landlords have stated that hikes permitted by the RGB aren’t excessive sufficient to cowl the bills of sustaining their buildings, whereas tenants stated they’re financially squeezed and may’t afford to pay extra.
That performed out final yr, when the board voted on lease will increase of three% for one-year leases and 4.5% for two-year leases, after beforehand weighing hikes between 1.75% and 4.75% for one-year leases and three.75% and seven.75% for two-year leases.
“We’ve been right here yearly, however this yr feels completely different,” stated Equipment Klee, an organizer with the tenant group CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities who lives in a rent-stabilized condominium in Astoria and appeared longing for a lease freeze earlier than the vote came about.
