By Gina Martinez
The city’s 1 million rent-stabilized tenants will likely see a rent increase for the coming year.
The city Rent Guidelines Board, whose members are all mayoral appointees, proposed a hike at its meeting Tuesday after two consecutive rent freezes.
Five of the board’s nine members voted in favor of a 1 to 3 percent increase for one-year renewal leases and a 2 to 4 percent increase for a two-year renewal lease. If the board’s proposal passes, the rent increases will affect leases signed between Oct. 1 2017 and Sept. 30, 2018.
“Over the past three years, owners of rent-stabilized apartments have experienced an increase in operating costs in excess of 11 percent – and that’s according to RGB data,” Rent Stabilization President Joseph Strasburg said. “There is no rationale for a third consecutive rent freeze, other than carrying out Mayor Bill de Blasio’s political agenda in an election year.”
Rent-stabilized apartments are in buildings containing at least six units that were built before February 1947 and comprise the lion’s share of rent-regulated homes in the city. Rent-controlled units, now less than 2 percent of the overall housing stock, have statutory tenants who occupied the apartment before July 1971 and often pay the same rent for years unless there is a major improvement to the building.
“Small landlords will be front and center in the months ahead at the RGB’s public hearings, showing that a fair rent increase is necessary to pay for property taxes that de Blasio raises every year, and to repair, improve, maintain and preserve the affordable housing they provide to their tenants,”Strasburg said.
The board said the price of operating rent-stabilized buildings went up by 6.2 percent in 2016 and will likely increase another 4.4 percent in 2017. Landlord members proposed that one-year leases go up by 4 percent and two-year leases rise by 6 percent, while tenant members proposed decreasing one-year leases by 4 percent and two-year leases by 2 percent.
There will be five public hearings before a final vote, which will be held June 27 at Baruch College.
Reach Gina Martinez by e-mail at gmart
