With the first meeting of the New York City Rent Guidelines Board just days away, before a single sheet of income data is analyzed or a word of public hearing testimony is uttered, small property owners already know what will happen in June when the RGB decides rent adjustments on one- and two-year leases for one million rent-stabilized apartments.
With his latest RGB appointments giving him majority control of the board, Mayor Mamdani’s rent freeze is practically guaranteed.
The RGB is supposed to be insulated from political pressure, acting independently of mayoral influence. If that were true, record numbers of small owners wouldn’t be staring down foreclosure and bankruptcy due to past rent freezes and years of miniscule rent adjustments that failed miserably to address across-the-board increases in building operating costs and expenses.
Our organization, Small Property Owners of New York (SPONY), recently published a comprehensive report that found rents of the city’s one million rent-stabilized apartments have significantly declined in real terms since 2016.
Focusing on the year-over-year comparison of the RGB’s rent increases and the New York metropolitan area’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) from 2000 to 2025, this analysis quantifies an alarming trend that small property owners have known for years: rent on stabilized apartments have not kept pace with inflation and are insufficient to offset costs.
The data of the last 10 years is even more troubling. Since 2016, the one-year rent increases set by the RGB compounded to about 14.84%, which is dramatically lower than the 32.44% cumulative area CPI during the same period. This yields a negative 13.29% real-rent change for rent-stabilized apartments.
This 10-year snapshot includes three years of rent freezes implemented by an RGB controlled by then-Mayor Bill de Blasio. During rent freezes in 2016, 2017 and 2021, metro-area inflation totaled 6.93%, resulting in a real-rent change of about negative 6.48% for stabilized apartments.
Small owners are still reeling from de Blasio era rent freezes. With the first of Mamdani’s four promised rent freezes coming at us like a high-speed train, many of us won’t be around for the next three.
The gap between regulated rents and the cost of operating and maintaining rent-stabilized housing is widening. Property taxes, mortgages, utilities, insurance premiums, labor and materials have all surged since 2016, much faster than RGB rent adjustments.
A Mamdani rent freeze would be an insurmountable blow to small owners who are already dealing with crippling regulations like the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA). Tens of thousands of rent-stabilized apartments are now empty in the midst of a housing shortage and affordability crisis because HSTPA restrictions have stripped small owners of the financial wherewithal needed for costly rehabilitation of apartments when long-time tenants move out.
A rent freeze would further restrict housing supply and have a devastating impact on rental costs. When operating costs rise but revenue is capped, maintenance is deferred, repairs are delayed, and capital improvements are abandoned.
Mamdani’s housing agenda, so far, is built on a foundation of headlines, slogans and fiscal fantasies. While New Yorkers absolutely deserve a city they can afford, housing affordability isn’t achieved by freezing rents of small property owners, the backbone of affordable housing, and raising their taxes by 9.5%, as Mamdani has proposed.
We appeal directly to RGB members: ignore the noise from City Hall; don’t do the mayor’s bidding even if he appointed you. Instead, fulfill the board’s charter; follow the math and data compiled by your own researchers. It’s the only equitable way to make housing affordable and stable for renters and small rent-stabilized building owners.
Korchak is president and Eccles is vice president of Small Property Owners of New York (SPONY).