New York City’s Rent Guidelines Board voted to set a 0% to 2% range for rent increases for roughly one million stabilized apartments, putting Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s pledged freeze within reach.
The nine-member panel approved the preliminary range for one-year leases Thursday and set a range of 0% to 4% for two-year leases. The initial vote doesn’t set rents. A final decision will be made in June by the board, which will choose one percentage within the range as the limit for rent hikes.
Mamdani’s focus on rents helped launch the 34-year-old Democratic socialist to City Hall in November amid escalating living costs that tenant advocates say are forcing residents out of the city. Mamdani then reshaped the rent panel, making six new appointments to the board in February, and his government mobilized New Yorkers to testify at hearings ahead of the final vote…