Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released the following statement before the Rent Guidelines Board's final vote this evening on proposed rent increases for rent-regulated apartments in New York City. He also testified before the Board last week in the Bronx – video of that testimony is available here.
"This evening, the Rent Guidelines Board will vote on proposed rent increases for the two million New Yorkers who live in rent-stabilized apartments. Increasing rents – as they seem poised to do – would only exacerbate the issues the board is tasked with considering, helping neither tenants nor owners. Landlords cannot get more money from people who just don’t have it, and the eviction crisis will only become more entrenched.
"Just last week, the median rent in Manhattan hit $4,000. Our city is growing ever more unaffordable and inaccessible to the people who call it home, make it run, and help define New York. The minimum wage remains flat while everything else grows more expensive – groceries, childcare, utilities, and now, rent. Once again, we’re asking the people with the least to do more with less. We’re evicting the very same people we called “heroes” in 2020 and sending a resounding message that they don’t deserve a safe and stable place to live.
"There are already tens of thousands of homeless New Yorkers, and since last year, there has been a sharp rise in the number of New Yorkers living on the street. If the Board follows through with the proposed increases, they vote to add even more families, children, disabled New Yorkers, and lifelong neighbors to that number. The suggested increases are unreasonable, untenable, and unacceptable."
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