NYC landlords, tenants plead their cases ahead of key Rent Guidelines Board vote on possible rent hikes

Landlord and tenant groups made their cases before the Rent Guidelines Board on Thursday ahead of a key preliminary vote next week that will inform potential rent increases for roughly 2 million rent-stabilized New Yorkers.

The nine-person board, appointed by the mayor and tasked with deciding on annual rent rates, heard familiar arguments from both sides during the marathon meeting: landlords asking for significant rent hikes to offset expenses and tenants asking for a rent freeze or rollback in light of a major affordability crisis and historic housing crunch.

The hearing came ahead of the board’s preliminary vote, scheduled for Tuesday in Long Island City, Queens, where they are expected to decide on a tentative range for proposed rent hikes.

A recent study by the board’s staff found rent increases of 2.5% to 4% for one-year leases and 4% to 7% for two-year leases would be needed for landlords to be unaffected by rising costs — figures immediately rejected by both sides. Landlords claim the lower figures would be insufficient, while the tenant side pointed out overall landlord incomes climbed 10.4% last year, according to a recent Rent Guidelines Board report.

Real estate industry representatives, who testified first, pointed out that that growth was concentrated in Manhattan and that some outer borough landlords with older buildings were struggling with maintenance and operating costs.

“Without sufficient rent adjustments, these buildings have no future,” said Jay Martin, executive director of the Community Housing Improvement Program. “The longer this board waits to address the fiscal reality facing pre-1974 rent-stabilized buildings, the worse things will get, until we reach a point where there will be no affordable housing left in the city.”

Housing advocates cited grim rates of homelessness, evictions, rent burden, food insecurity and the lasting impact of the pandemic in calling for a rent freeze.

“The situation is incredibly serious and dire,” said Lucy Block of the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development. “Tenants took a huge hit during the pandemic. And while there was [Emergency Rental Assistance Program] and there was temporary assistance, there just is not a recovery.”

Leah Goodridge, a former tenant representative on the board and a tenants’ rights attorney, was critical of the power dynamic at play.

“The reality is that no one is forced to be a landlord of a rent stabilized building,” she said. “A lot of the framework that’s provided is this sort of equivalency of someone [who] is facing homelessness, can’t afford the rent [versus] someone [who] has made a business decision that isn’t generating profits.”

The hearing was part of a series held each year to gather input on possible rent hikes. The board will also hold public meetings — typically heated events marked by emotional renter testimony — in each borough ahead of a final vote in the summer.

At last year’s raucous deciding vote, the board approved 3% hikes for one-year leases and 2.75% to 3.2% hikes over two-year leases, amid jeers and boos from protesters.