NEW YORK — New York City Democratic mayoral hopefuls are warming to a rent freeze this year on the city’s roughly 1 million rent-regulated tenants.
But most are stopping short of committing to one if elected, in a sign of a political shift to the center.
City Comptroller Brad Lander and his predecessor, Scott Stringer, and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams have all said in recent days they support a rent freeze this June by the mayor-appointed Rent Guidelines Board. The nine-member entity annually decides whether — and by how much — rents should go up on rent-regulated tenants.
Their backing comes amid a campaign by tenant groups to reach voters who live in rent-stabilized housing, in the hope of motivating them to back mayoral candidates who will appoint a tenant-friendly rent board once in office.
Voters head to the polls June 24 for the city’s closed partisan primaries.
The candidates have no power over the existing board, which serves under Mayor Eric Adams and is expected to reach a decision in June. But their positions shed light on how they would navigate one of the biggest housing matters under the purview of City Hall: where rents should be set for some 1 million regulated tenants at a time of increased anxiety over the high cost of living in New York.
“The scale of the Rent Guidelines Board is beyond [the amount of housing] any mayor produces in their career,” said Cea Weaver, who is leading the tenant coalition. “One of the things we want to do is give tenants something to vote for that is not just an individual but is meaningful to their lives.”
Tenant activists have been critical of Eric Adams, who often empathizes with fellow small landlords and once proclaimed, “I am real estate.” Guidelines board increases have largely exceeded those under his predecessor, Bill de Blasio, who froze rents three times as mayor and campaigned on that when running for reelection.
Mayoral frontrunner Andrew Cuomo called support for a rent freeze a “politically convenient posture” in his recent housing plan, and said he would appoint members who “make decisions based on the evidence.” The city’s well-heeled real estate industry, which is coalescing around Cuomo, fiercely opposes a rent freeze and has argued Rent Guidelines Board increases in recent years have not kept up with landlords’ operating costs.
Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist polling second to Cuomo, is running on a pledge to freeze rents as mayor. Lander and Stringer have said previously their support for a rent freeze would depend on whether data backs it up.
“For this year, yes, I think the data supports it,” Lander said at a mayoral forum focused on affordability on Monday. “But I’m not going to forward-commit, I want to keep rents down as low as they can, making sure that landlords can do repairs.”
He is expected to further detail his position during testimony before the Rent Guidelines Board on Thursday, in his capacity as comptroller.
The board reviews a series of reports each year that detail the state of rent-regulated buildings, trends in operating costs and landlord and tenant incomes. The body uses that data, and public testimony from tenants and landlords, to make its final determination on permissible rent hikes.
The net operating incomes of landlords with rent-stabilized apartments rose 12.1 percent in 2023, the most recent year data was available — the highest annual increase going back more than 30 years. But the costs of operating buildings with rent-stabilized units also went up by 6.3 percent, a higher increase than in previous years when the board approved a freeze.
Asked by POLITICO on Wednesday whether he thinks the latest RGB data backs up the case for a rent freeze, Stringer said, “I do,” albeit with the caveat that he has not had a chance to review the data “closely.”
“You can’t go into something without having a transparent and honest review of the numbers, and I think tenants will trust me to make those critical decisions,” he said.
At the Monday forum, Adrienne Adams also said she supports a freeze this year, but did not commit to enacting one in future years.
Tenant activists see the support for a rent freeze this year as a litmus test for candidates on how they would handle the Rent Guidelines Board process as mayor.
Cuomo, in his housing plan, said he would appoint members who “will make decisions objectively.”
“If landlords — small landlords in particular — do not receive rent increases that reflect their costs, they will be unable to maintain their buildings,” his plan states.
Landlord groups have argued insufficient rent increases in recent years have left many rent-regulated buildings — particularly older buildings outside prime areas of Manhattan — in accelerating disrepair.
“It’s interesting to me that every candidate seems to be now getting in line with these talking points but not a single one is talking about the costs the mayor can control,” said Kenny Burgos, executive director of the New York Apartment Association.
The tenant coalition’s canvassing efforts have spanned the city. Volunteers have knocked on 5,000 doors as part of an electoral-style outreach effort, getting signatures in support of a rent freeze from about 2,700 New Yorkers. In total, they’ve collected upwards of 10,000 signatures in support of a freeze.
The Housing Justice for All coalition is a non-profit organization that cannot advocate for political candidates. But the groups within it launched an electoral arm earlier this year called New York Tenant Bloc, which may endorse in the Democratic primary.
The canvassing operation has shown support for a rent freeze is not limited to left-leaning voters, according to tenant activists. One canvasser described a voter who enthusiastically signed the rent freeze petition, but supports Cuomo in the mayoral primary.
“I don’t need to talk to DSA members about a rent freeze. I want to talk to Cuomo voters — that’s the beauty of this demand,” Weaver said. “Is the issue of their housing costs salient enough to change their vote? Our gamble is yes.”
At a recent canvass observed by POLITICO, one longtime tenant of a building in Hell’s Kitchen happily signed a petition in support of a rent freeze, even knocking on her neighbors doors to share the tenant advocates’ materials. Her candidate of choice? Republican Curtis Sliwa.
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