The city’s Rent Guidelines Board, in a 7-1 vote, approved a rent freeze covering both one-year and two-year leases for people living in about 1 million rent-stabilized apartments, which make up about 27% of the overall housing stock across New York City’s five boroughs.
The approval was expected, despite protests from some renters and landlords, who argued that frozen rents would hamper the maintenance of aging buildings as costs rise. But the Thursday vote could also face a legal challenge after a landlord representative on the board resigned at the 11th hour, claiming that the freeze was being railroaded into force.
The board’s decision comes on the heels of Mamdani’s political victory, after a group of progressive candidates for the U.S. House whom he endorsed swept their Democratic primaries earlier this week.
New York City is infamous for its housing crisis. Of the roughly 3.7 million housing units in the city, two-thirds of the apartments in the city are rentals. The net rental vacancy rate in 2023 across all housing in the city was 1.41%, indicating a tight market and, if there were no guardrails, could give leverage to landlords to increase rents.
Rent-stabilized apartments are most often located in buildings with 6 or more units and were built before 1974. Annual rent increases in these stabilized units are thus limited to a maximum percentage prescribed by the RGB. Tenants of these properties also enjoy additional protections and rights, including the right to renew leases.
In a May report, New York City’s Independent Budget Office estimates that the median rent in rent-stabilized housing is around $1,600, while market-rate rents are above $4,000 in high-demand areas, based on industry reports.
Rental hikes did not stop either under Mamdani’s predecessor, Eric Adams: the RGB in 2025 voted for a 3% hike for one-year leases and a 4.5% increase for two-year leases. The Community Service Society also analyzed in September 2025 that the 12.6% cumulative stabilized rent increase during Adams’ term was several times larger than the hikes under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, as well as the final term of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
What is the Rent Guidelines Board?
In February, Mamdani appointed six of the RGB’s members, signaling that he could make true to his promise.
In a statement posted to LinkedIn, Christina Smyth, whom Adams reappointed to the board in December 2025, said that the board’s 2026 rent stabilization order “was decided last year on the campaign trail” and that with Mamdani’s recent appointments, the board was “required to deliver a rent freeze” despite data from the board’s own research suggesting it would burden owners.
The resignation took the board’s chair, Chantella Mitchell, by surprise, and, in a statement, she countered Smyth’s claims and affirmed the board’s independence.
What are landlords’ issues with rent freezes?
Mamdani himself has pointed out that rent freezes aren’t new. During the tenure of former Mayor de Blasio, the RGB in 2015 voted for a freeze on one-year leases in these rent-stabilized apartments, the first since the RGB’s establishment. These were followed by rent freezes in 2016, 2020, and the first half of 2021.
Ann Korchak, board president of owner advocacy group Small Property Owners of New York, said in a statement to the media that the RGB should have postponed the vote until Smyth, the landlord representative, was replaced. The other board member representing landlords, Mamdani-appointed Maksim Wynn, voted in favor of the freeze.
James Whelan, president of the Real Estate Board of New York trade association, said the RGB “ignored its own data and made a terrible decision,” adding in a statement to the media that “older rent-stabilized buildings are already struggling under rising operating costs.”
“This decision will mean less investment in maintenance and repairs, accelerating the deterioration of the housing stock that millions of New Yorkers call home,” Whelan added. “Tonight’s vote may be politically popular, but it will make New York’s housing crisis worse.”
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