According to the city's Rent Guidelines Board, landlord operating costs for around a million rent-stabilized tenants went up 0.5 percent last year, the lowest increase since 2002, The Post reports. That means that a citywide rent freeze is looking increasingly more likely by summer. The costs were so low, the board's staff even recommended rent decreases in certain situations.
Every year in June, the board sets rent increases on stabilized apartments. Last year saw an increase of just 1 percent for one-year lease renewals and 2.75 percent for two year lease renewals, after landlord costs increased 5 percent. Mayor de Blasio sought a total freeze last year (it was one of his campaign promises), but was unsuccessful due to "a number of holdovers" on the board from the Bloomberg administration. This year, however, landlord advocate Jack Freund expects the rent freeze to go through.
"We presume again that the mayor will be calling for zero [increase], and he now controls the entire board. So the prospects for a reasonable guidelines board don't look good to us."
· There may actually be a rent freeze in the city this summer [NYP]
· All Rent Guidelines Board coverage [Curbed]
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