The Rent Guidelines Board voted Monday in favor of a 3 percent increase on one-year leases and a 4.5 percent increase for two-year leases. As usual, no one is happy.
In the 5-4 vote, both of the tenant representatives and the two landlord representatives voted against the 3 percent hike — though for vastly different, and predictable, reasons. Those representing the landlords’ interest warned the hikes weren’t high enough to address the financial difficulties rent-stabilized landlords say they are facing in maintaining their housing stock. “We understand that this is a very difficult decision, and that this board is put in a position each year to the utter failures of the state elected officials and the city government to address the high cost of housing and the abject lack of supply,” Christina Smyth, a lawyer and landlord rep on the board, said in front of a booing crowd. She also blamed the 2019 state tenant-protection laws for “the systemic defunding of buildings,” along with growing property taxes, as well as insurance and utility bills.
