Board Approves Steepest Rent Increases in Nearly Two Decades

Update: The Rent Guidelines Board yesterday approved rent increases in rent stabilized buildings of 4.5 percent for one-year leases and 8.5 percent for two-year leases.

A minimum increase of $45 per month for one year leases and $85 per
month for two year leases was also approved for tenants that have lived
in a building for over six years. This supplemental “longevity”
increase disproportionately affects poor tenants, who are the majority
in apartments with lower rents and who tend to stay in their apartments
longer, since they have no alternative housing in which to move. The
ruling affects leases renewed beginning in October. The increases are
the highest in nearly two decades.

Read more here (Daily News link). 

  June 17th, 2008

On June 16th, two Legal Services NYC Staff Attorneys testified at a
public hearing held by the New York City Rent Guidelines Board. The
Board will decide today on how much to increase rents on the city’s one
million rent-stabilized apartments.

Mary McCune, Staff Attorney at Manhattan Legal Services, testified that tenants'
rents have “doubled and tripled” in recent years in part because of
deregulation. She is quoted in a June 17th New York Times
piece on the hearings. "'It’s ironic to hear landlords say they cannot meet expenses when they
can spend money for alterations and lawyers,' alterations that would
let them raise the rent, and lawyers who would evict tenants, said Ms.
McCune."

David Robinson, Staff Attorney at Legal Services NYC, also
testified at the hearing, calling for the Board to “help to remedy New
York City’s growing problems of homelessness and poverty due to
unaffordable rent burdens by maintaining rents at their current level." 

In May, the Board voted to recommend that this year’s
increases fall within a range of 3.5% to 7% for one-year leases and
5.5% to 9.5% for two-year leases. A decision on an exact figure is
expected today.

Click here for a PDF of David Robinson’s submitted testimony.

Click here for the June 17th New York Times article, "Rent Board Gives Landlords and Tenants a Chance to Vent."