By Kashmira Konduparty
The New York City Rent Guidelines Board voted on Thursday to freeze rents on both one-year and two-year leases for the city’s roughly one million rent-stabilized apartments, marking the first time in the board’s history that both lease terms have received a 0% increase. The decision fulfills one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s signature campaign promises to halt rent increases for stabilized tenants.
The nine-member board voted 7-1 in favor of the rent freeze during a meeting at El Museo del Barrio in East Harlem. The new guidelines will apply to rent-stabilized leases beginning on or after Oct. 1, 2026. Tenant advocates packed the meeting room and erupted in applause after the vote, calling it a landmark victory for working-class New Yorkers.
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The board had previously approved a preliminary range in May that allowed for increases of 0% to 2% on one-year leases and 0% to 4% on two-year leases, leaving open the possibility of a complete freeze. Thursday’s vote made that outcome a reality after weeks of public hearings and testimony from tenants, landlords and housing advocates.
In a statement following the vote, Mamdani called the decision “a historic victory for New York City tenants,” saying the independent board had delivered “the relief that working people across our city deserve.” The mayor had campaigned on freezing rents and earlier this year appointed six of the board’s nine members.
Tenant organizations welcomed the decision, arguing that rising living costs have made it increasingly difficult for many families to remain in the city. “This is no longer just a city that’s a playground for the rich,” tenant Lex Rountree said after the vote. “This is a city for the working people making it run.”
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Landlord groups sharply criticized the action, saying a rent freeze would make it more difficult to maintain aging apartment buildings as operating expenses continue to rise. James Whelan, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, said the decision “may be politically popular, but it will make New York’s housing crisis worse.” Kenny Burgos, chief executive of the New York Apartment Association, said the freeze would harm the condition of rent-stabilized housing.
The vote followed last-minute controversy after board member Christina Smyth, one of the landlord representatives, resigned hours before the meeting. In her resignation letter, Smyth argued that the outcome had been predetermined and that the board had “stopped being a fact-finding body.”
Despite the resignation, the board proceeded with the vote as scheduled.
The decision affects about 2.4 million New Yorkers living in rent-stabilized apartments and represents the most significant change to the city’s rent guidelines in years.