Newark officials say they’ve registered thousands of rent-controlled apartments in the city over the last two years in an effort to keep housing affordable in New Jersey's largest city.

A majority of eligible apartments in Newark weren’t registered with the city's housing department, making it hard for officials to keep track of rents.

That’s why Mayor Ras Baraka says Newark is aggressively registering units under their rent control program that limits how much landlords can raise rents.

Maria Lopez Nunez is a housing advocate with the Ironbound Community Corporation.

"This will allow residents the power to know this is all my landlord can charge me and this is all my landlord can increase my rent this year," she said.

Last year Newark registered seven times as many rent-controlled apartments as it did in 2018. Nearly 30,000 units are now registered for rent-control in Newark -- about a third of the city’s housing stock.