Photos: PSC-CUNY\YouTube Screenshots
On Wednesday, the New York Rent Guidelines Board (with its nine mayoral appointees) voted to increase rents by 3 percent for over 1 million rent-stabilized buildings.
New York City Council Member Crystal Hudson, Chair of the Council’s Committee on Aging, released the following statement in response to the news:
“Time and again, New Yorkers were clear in their opposition to the Rent Guidelines Board’s proposed rent increases to rent-stabilized units. Tenants gathered repeatedly at public hearings across the five boroughs to testify about the material effects such increases would have on them and their communities. And, against their testimony and the backdrop of unprecedented inflation––—with food costs jumping nearly 7 percent and medical supplies jumping 10 percent since last year, rendering any wage gains by New Yorkers moot––the Rent Guidelines Board’s decision to increase rents on the city’s nearly 1 million rent-stabilized units by 3% across one and two-year leases is negligent and irresponsible.
“As Chair of the Council’s Committee on Aging, I am appalled by the vote, one that will force hundreds of thousands of older adults living in rent-stabilized units to spend even more of their fixed income on rent––the vast majority of whom are already moderately or severely rent-burdened. As is always the case, our Black, brown, poor, and working class communities will bear the brunt of this decision, and will be among the first to be evicted. And, in a state with no Good Cause protections and a City with an underfunded Right to Counsel program, there is little reprieve for our neighbors. Last year, rent-stabilized tenants experienced the largest rent increase in nearly a decade. This year, it is more of the same.
“The mayor has been clear about where his loyalties lie, and it is not with poor New Yorkers, working class New Yorkers, Black and brown New Yorkers, older New Yorkers, or tenant New Yorkers. Today’s rent increase is just another example.”
