Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Here are the rent increases for rent-stabilized apartment dwellers


[Image via 1010 WINS]

The nine-member Rent Guidelines Board voted last night on rent increases for residents living in the city's more than 1 million rent-stabilized apartments

This is what the board ultimately decided on at the Great Hall at Cooper Union, based on various published reports:

• For a one-year lease, tenants can expect a 1.5 percent hike.

• For a two-year lease, tenants can expect a 2.5 percent jump.

This year’s increases are identical to those approved last year.

The changes will go into effect on Oct. 1.

The Times had some background on the decades-old tradition:

The new increases are modest given the history of the board, which was formed 50 years ago.

The board allowed rent increases of up to 14 percent for certain two-year leases in 1980. Under the Bloomberg administration, yearly rent increases for one-year leases hovered at about 3.25 percent on average.

But rent caps have been considerably lower under Mayor Bill de Blasio.

During his first mayoral campaign, he pledged a temporary freeze on regulated rents, in order, he said, to protect low-income tenants from a roaring real estate market. A majority of rent-stabilized tenants pay more than 30 percent of their income in rent.

In 2015, the board approved a rent freeze on one-year leases for the first time in its history. It did so again in 2016, but the board approved modest increases in 2017.

This year, the board considered rent increases as high as 6.75 percent, rent decreases and another rent freeze, which tenant groups supported.

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