Eric Adams and the Landlords Make Their Move
Rent hikes are coming
On Thursday night, the Rent Guidelines Board voted to support the largest rent increase in almost a decade, dealing a blow to the housing movement and cementing Eric Adams’ vision of a landlord-friendly city.
The increases, ultimately, were not as large as initially feared. The nine-member board, which is partially stocked with Adams appointees now and will completely turn over in the coming years, voted to raise rents on one-year leases by 2 to 4 percent and on two-year leases by 4 to 6 percent. In June, the board will formally approve the hikes. The last time the more than one million rent-stabilized tenants in New York City faced such rent increases, it was 2013 and the billionaire Michael Bloomberg was still mayor.
Progressive politicians and organizations denounced the vote, but with relatively little fury. Stars of the movement like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were silent. Left-leaning city council members, to their credit, had been banging the drum against such hikes for some time. Tenant and housing activists were engaged most in the fight and were, in this case, outgunned.