Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday announced that he had appointed six people to a nine-member panel that has the power to freeze the rent in rent-stabilized apartments, making it more likely than ever that he will come through on his campaign promise to halt increases for nearly two million New Yorkers.
The panel, known as the Rent Guidelines Board, decides each year whether and how much rent will go up for nearly one million rent-stabilized units. Mr. Mamdani appointed as its chair Chantella Mitchell, a former city employee who is the program director at the New York Community Trust, a nonprofit community development group.
Mr. Mamdani’s appointments also included: Sina Sinai, a researcher at the Jain Family Institute, a nonprofit research group; Lauren Melodia, the director of economic and fiscal policy at the Center for New York City Affairs at the New School; and Brandon Mancilla, the region 9A director of the United Auto Workers.
The mayor also appointed Maksim Wynn, the director of development at Procida Development Group, to represent the interests of landlords. And he reappointed Adán Soltren, a lawyer at the Legal Aid Society, to represent tenants.
Mr. Mamdani said in a statement that he was confident that the board would “take a cleareyed look at the complex housing landscape and the realities facing our city’s two million rent-stabilized tenants, and help us move closer to a fairer, more affordable New York.”
The board is supposed to be independent, and decide whether rent should go up and by how much based on things like landlords’ finances and the affordability of housing in New York City. But because the members are appointed by the mayor, the board often follows the mayor’s priorities.
Now, Mr. Mamdani’s appointments have firm control over the board and can “freeze the rent” as Mr. Mamdani has repeatedly promised.
But the move is sure to upset landlords, who have long been skeptical about Mr. Mamdani’s promise. Many landlords of rent-stabilized buildings have complained in recent years that rent increases have not kept up with increases in the cost of things like maintenance and property taxes. (Mr. Mamdani on Tuesday suggested he might have to increase property tax rates to address the city’s budget deficit.)
Landlords say a freeze will only worsen their situation, prompting conditions in those buildings to deteriorate for tenants.
Kenny Burgos, the chief executive of the New York Apartment Association, which represents landlords, said on Wednesday that freezing rents could be “destructive” to older rent-stabilized buildings.
“We believe the law mandates the R.G.B. members to evaluate all the data and make a decision that is based in fact — not political ideology,” Mr. Burgos said of the appointments. “If they choose to ignore consensus opinion then they will be opening up the process to legal scrutiny. Worse, they will be responsible for the deterioration and eventual destruction of thousands of rent-stabilized buildings.”
But advocates for renters seemed to welcome the appointments, particularly those of Mr. Soltren and Mr. Mancilla.
“It is more vital than ever for the board to provide urgently needed relief to the more than two million working-class New Yorkers who live in rent-stabilized homes by freezing rents,” the Legal Aid Society said in a statement.
Mihir Zaveri covers housing in the New York City region for The Times.
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