NYC Freezes Rents For Regulated Apartments Amid Coronavirus

NEW YORK CITY — Rents will freeze for roughly 2 million New Yorkers with rent-regulated apartments for the next year to help ease the financial burden of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the Rent Guidelines Board announced Wednesday.

The nine-member panel tasked with setting rents for New York City's 1 million rent-regulated apartments voted 6-3 Wednesday night in favor of a rent freeze from Oct. 1 to 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021.

“Renters have never faced hardship like this," said Mayor Bill de Blasio, who first issued the rent freeze directive to the board.

"Now, more renters than ever before will get help keeping a roof over their heads."

Rent-regulated tenants with two-year leases will see rents freeze their first year then rent will rise 1 percent for the second, according to the ruling.

Legal Aid Society warned even a 1 percent increase could spell hardship for rent-burdened New Yorkers struggling to pay bills and feed their families.

"The Board has cast its vote with disregard for the most vulnerable tenants," said Legal Aid attorney Adriene Holder in a statement.

"Their right to remain in their home and keep a roof over their families should have been prioritized.”

Landlords came out against the rent freeze, with the Rent Stabilization Association arguing it should have been accompanied by a freeze on property taxes as well.

"This had everything to do with a political agenda and complete control over the Board‬," the RSA said in a statement.

"That’s not a balance, that’s a recipe for affordable housing disaster."

The decision comes days before Gov. Andrew Cuomo's moratorium on evictions is slated to end on June 20 (it continues until Aug. 20 for those who can prove financial hardship linked to COVID-19), at which point housing advocates fear up to 50,000 New Yorkers could face evictions.

More than 50 state Senators and Assembly members Wednesday sent Cuomo — who has repeatedly voiced support for landlords who must also pay utility bills, mortgages and property taxes — a letter urging him to extend the moratorium.

"Given the unimaginable and unprecedented loss we’ve already faced as New Yorkers," the lawmakers wrote, "we urge you to issue an order protecting ALL tenants, extending a universal eviction moratorium for the duration of the crisis."