The New York City Rent Guidelines Board on Monday voted to increase the rent on the city's nearly one million rent stabilized apartments.
The board voted to allow landlords to increase rents by 3% on one-year leases and 4.5% on two-year leases.
"I urged the Rent Guidelines Board to adopt the lowest increase possible, as I’ve done in the past," said Mayor Eric Adams. "While the board exercised their independent judgment, and made an adjustment based on elements such as inflation, I am disappointed that they approved increases higher than what I called for."
The nine-members on the board are all appointed by the mayor.
"While freezing the rent may sound like a catchy slogan, it is bad policy, short-sighted, and only puts tenants in harm’s way. As the mayor of this city, I will never choose a politically advantageous position over what I know in my heart to be best for New Yorkers," Adams said.
State Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, the presumed winner of the Democratic primary who campaigned on freezing the rent, said the decision was "one last blow" to struggling rent-stabilized tenants.
"New Yorkers are desperate for city government that lowers costs instead of raising rents. Change is coming," he said on X.
Amid an election year, the board failed to listen to residents and candidates who called for a rent freeze, said city Comptroller Brad Lander.
"Economists, tenant advocates, and even the city’s own reports also concluded that a rent increase would lead to more displacement and inequality," said Lander. "For the fourth year in a row, Mayor Adams’ appointees on the NYC Rent Guidelines Board stuck tenants with a rent increase they can’t afford – even as landlord profits have soared, vacancy rates are at historic lows and the proportion of rent-burdened households has reached unsustainable levels."
The rent increase will take effect on Oct. 1, 2025.
