NYC Rent Guidelines Board Approves Two‑Year Rent Freeze, Delivering Major Win for Mayor Mamdani

The New York City Rent Guidelines Board has fulfilled a central promise from Mayor Zohran Mamdani by approving a rent freeze for roughly one million regulated apartments.

The decision, reached in a Thursday vote, drew loud applause and whistles from a sizable crowd gathered in Manhattan as the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) voted to freeze rents for both one‑year and two‑year leases.

Mayor Mamdani called the outcome “a historic victory for New York City tenants” in an official statement.

The board approved the measure by a 7‑1 vote, just hours after one of its members, Christina Smyth, publicly resigned, alleging that the panel was biased and had “knowingly disregarded its own evidence” regarding rising landlord operating costs.

Ms. Smyth had been among the three appointees of former Mayor Eric Adams, while Mayor Mamdani named the remaining six members after taking office earlier this year.

As one of the two landlord representatives, Smyth contended that the board’s decision had been preordained by the mayor.

“The rebuilt board was required to deliver a rent freeze,” she said. “Everything since has been theater,” she added in a statement.

Board Chair Chantella Mitchell affirmed that the board’s members serve with independence and integrity.

In a detailed statement on the freeze, she noted that “the comprehensive data before the board this year reflect an economic environment in which most rent‑stabilized tenants struggle to meet basic affordability thresholds as housing costs continue to rise.”

Rent‑stabilized properties across all five boroughs will qualify for the freeze from October 2026 through September 2027, encompassing everything from high‑rise luxury towers to affordable subsidized housing.

During public hearings preceding the vote, tenants testified that their incomes were not keeping pace with inflation and that previous rent hikes had not been directed toward building repairs or improvements.

Nevertheless, landlord advocacy groups cautioned that the freeze could make it harder to cover rising taxes, utilities, and maintenance costs, potentially leading to deteriorated living conditions for renters.

James Whelan, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, commented, “Older rent‑stabilized buildings are already struggling under rising operating costs, yet the Board chose to disregard those realities.”

He added, “This decision will mean less investment in maintenance and repairs, accelerating the deterioration of the housing stock that millions of New Yorkers call home.”

Mayor Mamdani’s campaign platform late last year focused on cost‑of‑living concerns, positioning the rent freeze as a central pledge.

Reconfiguring the board’s composition was another key commitment of the democratic socialist mayor.

In a January 2025 video, Mamdani indicated that eight of former Mayor Adams’s nine RGB appointees were nearing the end of their terms, adding that he would replace them with individuals who “understand that landlords are doing just fine.”

A preliminary vote in May by the rent guidelines panel had already endorsed Mamdani’s proposal to effectively freeze rents for nearly one million New York apartments.

Rent freezes have previously been imposed three times between 2015 and 2021 under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, though those measures applied solely to one‑year leases.

Mamdani’s rent freeze achievement follows a successful showing for three left‑leaning congressional candidates he endorsed, who also prevailed in elections held on Wednesday.

Among those he supported, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and community activist Darializa Avila Chevalier defeated incumbent Democratic congressmen.

In a third contest, state assemblywoman Claire Valdez defeated an opponent who had received backing from much of New York City’s Democratic establishment.

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