By The newspaper
Jun 18, 2024, 08:44 AM EDT
The New York City Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) yesterday approved increasing rents in rent-stabilized apartments, which is equivalent to about one million homes.
Increases of 2.75% in one-year leases and 5.25% in two-year leases were approved.
The decision applies to apartments, lofts and hotels with stabilized rent, starting next October 1. The panel of nine people appointed by the Mayor voted 5 to 4 in favor of the increase, which will be the 3rd consecutive annual, he explained. DailyNews.
The vote took place at Hunter College and the result was not surprising, as some protesters blocked the street, leading police to arrest between 8 and 10 people, reported ABCNews. The group included Hispanic State Assemblywoman (D) Marcela Mitaynes.
Mayor Eric Adams said the Board had a difficult task: striking a balance between protecting tenants from unworkable rent increases and ensuring landlords can afford necessary repairs and maintenance.
“We are grateful for the Board’s careful consideration of the data and its decision to limit increases this year,” Adams said. “As we’ve said from day one, the only way to ultimately reduce rents is to build more housing, and we’re using every tool in our toolbox to build that housing faster: cutting red tape, implementing new state tools by “We fought hard, funding record amounts of affordable housing and pushing for the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity-DCP zoning amendment that will clear the way for a little more housing to be built across the city and in every district.”
While the 2.75% increase for one-year leases was lower compared to the proposed figures (2-4%), the 5.25% increase for two-year leases represented something of a middle ground (4-6.5% ).
The Rent Stabilization Association (RSA), which represents landlords who own about one million rent-stabilized apartments in NYC, said the increases are still too low to keep up with rising costs, such as those for insurance.
Nor were the tenants’ advocates satisfied. “Increasing rents for tenants who can’t afford it doesn’t help landlords who are suffering; “All it does is cause tenants to be evicted,” said New York City Public Defender Jumaane Williams.
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Half of the families in New York City lack sufficient income to survive without help from the government, family or community, a report by United Way and The Fund for the City of New York (FCNY) warned last March.
High costs are not only affecting families, but also singles: another recent SmartAsset study revealed that NYC is where you need the most money to live “comfortably” as an individual: $66.62 per hour or an annual salary of $138,570.
New York is also one of six cities in the United States where a family must earn more than $300,000 to “comfortably” raise two children: $318,406 to be exact.
But high costs do not guarantee well-being in the “capital of the world”: in another recent survey, barely 30% of residents rated the quality of life in NYC positively and only half plan to stay living here for the next few years.
In December, the Census confirmed that New York was the state that lost the most population in moves after the pandemic. In 2022, New York was left with one less seat in the Lower House of the National Capitol due to this demographic decrease, which had been manifesting before the pandemic and has accelerated since then.