Housing board votes to freeze New York rents in victory for Mamdani

New York City’s housing board has approved a landmark commitment from Mayor Zohran Mamdani to freeze rents on nearly one million regulated apartments.

The outcome of Thursday’s vote was met with cheers and whistles from hundreds of people in Manhattan as the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) approved a freeze on both one- and two-year leases.

Mamdani said in a statement that this was “a historic victory for New York City renters.”

The board voted 7-1 in favor of the policy, hours after the public resignation of one of its members, Christina Smyth, who accused the panel of bias and “knowingly ignoring its own evidence” that homeowners were facing rising operating costs.

Smyth was one of three members appointed by former New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Mamdani appointed the other six members after taking office this year.

Smyth, one of two homeowners representatives on the board, said the outcome was predetermined by the mayor.

“The rebuilding board was supposed to freeze the rent,” he said. “From then on, it’s all been theatre,” he said in a statement.

Board chair Chantella Mitchell said board members served independently and with integrity.

In a statement about the rent freeze, he said “the extensive data before the board this year reflects an economic environment in which most tenants in rent-stable housing are struggling to meet basic affordability thresholds as housing costs continue to rise.”

Buildings with rent-stabilized properties will be eligible for a rent freeze between October 2026 and September 2027 in all five boroughs of the city. These include buildings ranging from high-rise luxury apartments to affordable subsidized units.

Tenants had argued in public hearings before the vote that revenues had not kept pace with inflation and that past rent increases were not for building repairs or improvements.

But groups representing landlords warned that the decision would make it harder to keep up with rising taxes, utilities and repairs and lead to worse conditions for tenants.

“Older rent-stabilized buildings are already struggling with rising operating costs, but the Board has chosen to ignore these realities,” said James Whelan, president of the Real Estate Board of New York.

“This decision will mean less investment in maintenance and repairs and accelerate the deterioration of the housing stock that millions of New Yorkers call home,” he said.

During Mamdani’s mayoral campaign late last year, his election promises focused on cost-of-living issues; Freezing rents was also one of the main promises.

Changing the structure of the board of directors was also among the promises of democratic socialists.

In a January 2025 video, Mamdani said eight of Adams’ nine appointees to the RGB board had expired and that he would replace them if he became mayor, promising to “only appoint people who understand that homeowners are doing well.”

A preliminary vote by the rent guidelines panel in May approved Mamdani’s plan to effectively freeze rents on nearly one million New York apartments.

The rent freeze was implemented three times between 2015 and 2021 under former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, but it only applied to one-year leases.

Mamdani’s rent freeze victory contributed to the successful election of three leftist congressional candidates supported by the mayor on Wednesday.

Two of the candidates Mamdani supported, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and community activist Darializa Avila Chevalier, unseated incumbent Democratic congressmen.

In the third race, state Assemblywoman Claire Valdez defeated an opponent who had the support of much of New York City’s Democratic establishment.