NEW YORK (PIX11) — Tenants of rent-stabilized apartments are bracing for another rent hike for the second year in a row.
The New York City Rent Guidelines Board will hold its preliminary vote at 7 p.m. Tuesday on what the increase will be for new leases starting in October. The rent hike being discussed is anywhere from 3% to 16%.
A City Hall spokesperson provided the following statement ahead of the vote.
“The 16% number put out by the Rent Guidelines Board today is part of a standard annual report, only reflects one assessment of landlords’ increased costs, and does NOT in any way represent a recommendation from the RGB or this administration. No recommended or adopted increase has ever come close to this number, and this year will be no different. Any group suggesting otherwise is irresponsibly fearmongering and doing a disserve to the working New Yorkers this administration is fighting for every day.”
Renter Carmen Guzman Lombert is concerned about her rent rising.
“My Social Security income is going to go entirely to rent,” she said. “I’m applying for Medicaid and food stamps to meet my other basic needs. If they raise it even 1% or half a percent, I’m going to have to scramble again to figure out where the rest of that money is going to come from.”
The nine members of the Rent Guidelines Board appointed by Mayor Eric Adams will make the final decision in June.
The Rent Stabilization Association, which represents 25,000 landlords and building managers of the 1 million rent-stabilized apartments in New York City, says the board needs to take into account the crumbling infrastructure of 100-year-old buildings, inflation and lost rent of the last decade.
