Rent Guidelines Board Weighs Increases

A week before the Rent Guidelines Board is scheduled to vote on possible increases, landlords and tenants are speaking out.

The city has about a million rent stabilized apartments. Last year, the board froze those rents for the first time in its nearly half-century history. This year it's proposing increases from 0 to 2 percent on one-year leases and 0.5 to 3.5 percent increases for two year leases. The board is appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio.

At a public hearing at Cooper Union, tenants struggling to make ends meet called for a rollback. "A rent rollback will help the city's economy as more people will be able to afford goods and services," said Anita Romm with the Metropolitan Council on Housing. "Any rent increases will cause social problems like homelessness, and break up families."

New York State Sen. Brad Hoylman said a third of rent stabilized tenants pay more than half of their income on rent. "They're having a hard time saving for retirement, starting college funds for the kids, or even putting food on the table," he said. Hoylman said, if the board doesn't rollback rents, it should at least freeze them again. 

But landlords and their advocates said rising taxes and other costs make it hard to cover basic maintenance without a hike. "We need increases of a moderate level going out because we know our costs are going to continue increasing," said Jack Freund with the Rent Stabilization Association. 

"If the board continues down this road of rent freezes, you are handcuffing the landlords from being able to run their properties efficiently and everyone loses," said J'Nell Simmons with the group Landlords NY. 

A final hearing will be held Tuesday at Oberia D. Dempsy Multi Service Center in Manhattan.

The board is scheduled to vote next Monday, and any changes would take effect in October.