NEW YORK (PIX11) – The Legal Aid Society is advocating for a rent freeze rather than a rent hike for New York City’s 1 million rent-stabilized apartments.
The New York City Rent Guidelines Board will hold its preliminary vote on proposed lease adjustments for rent-stabilized apartments on Tuesday.
The lowest proposed rent increases are 5.3% for one-year leases and 6.6% for two-year leases. The highest proposed rent increases are 8.25% for one-year leases and 15.75% for two-year leases.
Adriene Holder, chief attorney of the Civil Practice at the Legal Aid Society, said the nonprofit opposes any rent hikes as New York City faces an affordability crisis worse than it’s ever been in the past two decades. Holder said raising rents by any margin would have “catastrophic consequences” for some of the city’s most vulnerable tenants.
“Given the severity of last year’s rent hikes coupled with the ongoing citywide housing crisis, the Board should unequivocally reject any proposed increases for tenants in rent-stabilized units and commit to an outright freeze,” Holder said in a statement.
Holder also cited a recent report from the Fund for the City of New York that found half of the city’s households are struggling to pay rent, access sufficient food and basic health care and afford transportation.
“Raising rents for already struggling low-income New Yorkers is not only unnecessary, but immoral,” Holder said. “The Rent Guidelines Board was not established to line the pockets of landlords, but rather to responsibly weigh current data to establish reasonable rent adjustments.”
