Rent Increases for 1 Million N.Y.C. Apartments Are Likely to Be Approved
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A New York City panel is expected to approve rent increases for almost one million stabilized apartments on Monday evening. The carefully watched annual vote will highlight the city’s affordability crisis, a core struggle in New York and other cities across the nation.
The nine-person panel, the Rent Guidelines Board, already voted in April to support an increase that could fall between 2 and 4.5 percent for one-year leases. It also voted to support two-year lease increases of between 4 and 6.5 percent. Those numbers are similar to what the board approved the past two years.
The vote on Monday will set the final numbers, and landlords could start raising rents in October if the panel votes in favor of increases.
About two million people live in rent-stabilized homes in New York City.Credit…Jeenah Moon for The New York Times
Deep Divisions: The votes over rent increases have drawn protests.
Rent-stabilized apartments house roughly a quarter of the city’s population. In a city where rents on the open market have skyrocketed and available apartments are scarce, stabilized units are treasured finds. The median monthly rent was about $1,500 for a stabilized unit in 2023, compared with $2,000 for an unregulated apartment, according to a recent city survey.
But tenants and their advocates have called on the city to freeze or reduce rents for stabilized units in recent years, as many New Yorkers struggle with the high cost of living. Landlords, for their part, have asked for increases to help cover the high costs of property taxes, insurance, mortgages and maintenance.
The Rent Guidelines Board examines the factors affecting both constituencies when deciding whether to allow rent increases. The board consists of two members representing tenant interests, two representing the interests of owners and five representing the general public. All members are appointed by the mayor. The vote on Monday is set to be the third consecutive year of increases.
