A MILLION WORRIES FOR CITY RENTERS
Struggling tenants hold breath as panel set to decide on hikes for rent-regulated apartments
Tenants who live in approximately 1 million rent-regulated apartments in the city will find out Tuesday night how much their rents will go up in the coming months — a decision that’s certain to take on larger than normal significance given the sky-high inflation both tenants and landlords are now facing.
The final decision will be made by the city’s Rent Guidelines Board on Tuesday night and set the threshold on how far landlords can go in demanding more cash from tenants.
In a preliminary vote last month, the board set the range on rent increases for one-year leases between 2% and 4%. For two-year leases, it approved a range of between 4% and 6%.
Landlords are hopeful the board will approve a rent hike at the higher end of that range so they’ll have more cash to pay for rising expenses, while tenants fear any rent hike will squeeze them even tighter.
“The tenants are going to be screwed,” said Michael McKee, a longtime tenant advocate and treasurer of the Tenants PAC. “The question is whether they’re going to go on the low end of the range or the high end.”
Either option, according to McKee, won’t be good for tenants, many of whom have had to struggle during the COVID pandemic. McKee pointed out that even for tenants who took advantage of the state’s COVIDera Emergency Rental Assistance Program, or ERAP, many are still behind on rent because the program only covers 15 months of arrears.
McKee also predicted that if increases within the range do occur, which he views as likely, about three-fourths of all tenants living in rent-regulated apartments will be unable to afford their rents.
Landlords, not surprisingly, have a different view of the situation.
They contend that rising inflation has caused the cost of needed resources such as gas and electricity to shoot up significantly, making it difficult for them to keep up.
Vito Signorile, a spokesman for the Rent Stabilization Association, which represents landlords in the city, pointed to the highest increase in gas and electric costs in 17 years, higher property taxes and a 4.7% hike in water surcharges as proof that landlords require more cash to keep their buildings up and running.
“I don’t know where they think the money is coming from to pay for these operating expenses,” Signorile told the Daily News on Monday. “Building owners are getting killed here.”
McKee contended that the same is true for tenants, who are also feeling the pinch of inflation with the rising cost of groceries and other necessities.
“Who’s better equipped to survive inflation — the people who live in rent-stabilized
apartments, or the people who own them?” he said.
All nine members of the city’s Rent Guidelines Board are appointed by the mayor. Some of them are Mayor Adams’ appointees, while others are holdovers from his predecessor, Mayor Bill de Blasio.
On Monday, Adams fielded questions on 1010 WINS about the looming possibility of rent hikes. When asked about tenants who fear a 4% hike, he said he was pleased that the board backed off the even higher hikes it was considering before setting its ranges. One of those was a 9% rent increase.
“Previously, we were hearing numbers upward of 9%. We raised our voice, and advocated to say, ‘This is unacceptable,’ ” Adams said. “We are hoping that the Rent Guidelines Board, the independent board, will make the right decision for those New Yorkers who are struggling.”
Adams, who is himself a landlord, added that he hopes the board acts in a “fair way” for both landlords and tenants.
Over the past several months, he has stressed that not raising rents, or raising them at a rate that’s too low, would affect small “mom-and-pop” landlords adversely.
McKee described Adams’ statement on Monday as “dissembling,” noting that the mayor is claiming to have “saved tenants from a 9% increase, when in fact a 4% or 6% hike would be devastating to 75% of rent-stabilized tenants.”
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams urged the board on Monday to enact an increase at “the lowest end of the range.”
“We cannot move forward if it means leaving our most vulnerable behind,” she said in written testimony submitted to the board in advance of Tuesday’s hearing. “It is imperative that New Yorkers have the reassurance and security that they can continue to live in their homes.”