5th Straight Rent Increase Is Likely for a Million N.Y.C. Apartments

The New York City panel that decides annually if and how much rents can go up for almost one million rent-stabilized apartments is expected to vote in favor of increases on one-year leases for the fifth straight year.

The panel, the Rent Guidelines Board, is meeting in Manhattan on Wednesday evening for a preliminary vote on rent proposals. Landlords and several housing experts have said that rising insurance, fuel and other costs are making it difficult to maintain apartment buildings.

A final vote is expected within the next two months. Any increase would affect leases starting on or after Oct. 1.

The rent stabilization system covers roughly half of all apartments in New York City. It is an important source of affordability: The typical monthly cost of a rent-stabilized apartment is about $1,500, compared with around $2,000 for market-rate units.

The nine-person board, whose members are appointed by the mayor, seeks to balance the interests of landlords and tenants.

The board looks at factors that primarily affect renters, including employment trends and wages, and those that affect landlords, including maintenance costs. The increases often track inflation, but are not directly pegged to it.

But the board’s decision also tends to reflect the priorities of the mayor.

Under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, who was seen as tenant-friendly, the board allowed barely any increases. During his eight-year term, the board froze rent on one-year leases three times and never raised it more than 1.5 percent.

During the tenure of the current mayor, Eric Adams, who has been more publicly supportive of landlords than Mr. de Blasio, the board has backed bigger increases as costs and inflation soared during the coronavirus pandemic. Last year, the board approved rent increases of 2.75 percent on one-year leases and 5.25 percent on two-year leases, similar to the prior two years.

With landlords still speaking out about rising costs, which are reflected in the board’s own research, another increase this year appears likely.

Because of New York City’s housing crisis, with few vacancies and rising market-rate rents, the board’s decision has become immensely political. Left-leaning tenant groups have said they plan to protest at the meeting.

“Tenants will demand a rent freeze — or else they’ll vote out Mayor Eric Adams and elect a mayor who will freeze the rent,” the New York State Tenant Bloc, a nonprofit advocacy group, said in a statement.

Several candidates in this year’s mayor’s race have signaled that they would press the board not to increase rents. The board last approved a rent freeze on one-year leases in 2020, the first year of the pandemic.

Mr. Adams, however, characterized the push for a freeze as “idealism,” because of the growing costs of operating a building.

“Realism is protecting small working-class property owners,” he said at a news conference on Monday. “And that is what my bread and butter is. And so any plan of rent freeze should come with a plan of protecting them also.”