The Rent Guidelines Board is set to vote on rent adjustments for rent-stabilized units in New York City on Wednesday.
In May, the board approved a 2% to 5% increase for one-year leases and a 4% to 7% increase for two-year-leases. On Wednesday, they’ll decide on the final range.
While tenants and advocates are concerned with how the change will impact the finances of renters, landlords are also worried about their finances if the rent hike ends up not meeting their needs.
“Over the past 10 years, my taxes have gone up 160% versus my revenue that has only gone up 137%,” said one landlord at a public hearing from June 13.
The Rent Stabilization Association, which represents 25,000 landlords, provided the following statement:
"We have been saying since the RGB's preliminary vote that anything short of establishing rent adjustments on the highest end of the ranges, which were already too low to keep up with always escalating costs, will plunge New York's affordable housing into an insolvency crisis."
Those on the tenant's side say they fear for their own stability and the city’s future.
"To impose an increase on them would be pretty devastating and may push some into homelessness,” said Robert Desir, staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society. “We're going to see a place of New York City that becomes increasingly stratified and that more and more people are unable to afford to live in.”
The board is set to vote at Hunter College on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
