Pushing for tenant protections (photo: Jeff Reed/City Council)

Over the past month, hundreds of tenants have rallied at hearings across the city to send a message: the rents are too high. 

The New York City Rent Guidelines Board, appointed by the Mayor, has sole discretion over how rents will change for 2.4 million rent-stabilized New York City tenants. The Board members’ vote this week risks pushing countless families into overcrowded shelters or the streets. 

The purpose of rent stabilization is to stabilize rents, which are already priced too high. The system was created in 1943 with the explicit aim of countering inflation – a problem we’re all too familiar with 80 years later. The Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) must fulfill its mandate and stand against rent hikes that are driving Black, brown, and low-income families out of the city, to settle for worse housing conditions, or to enter the growing ranks of the city’s homeless population.

At the first RGB hearing at Hostos Community College in the Bronx, we presented testimony that made clear how high the stakes are and how personal.

I, City Council Member Stevens, have a 23-year-old daughter who lives in rent-stabilized housing, and a rent hike would be devastating for her. 

I, Mercedes, started organizing with CASA when my landlord, Emerald Equities, applied to take away rent-stabilization in the building, and was mobilized by the pain and frustration of demanding basic repairs—around heating, leaks, bedbugs, and more—and not having them addressed.  

Our stories are not unique, and we’re tired of the political theater that demands that we relive our trauma hearing after hearing, year after year. Because these are the facts: the average family in a rent stabilized apartment pays over 36% of its income in rent, and more than a third hand most of their income over to their landlord every month. 

While rents have been rising, real wages have fallen, forcing families to choose — pay the rent or pay for food or other needs. The risk of displacement is also up. Fifteen percent of tenants say their landlord has threatened to evict them – the highest rate in eleven years. 

Every Rent Guidelines Board member is aware of these facts. We know, because they came directly out of the reports prepared for them by the RGB staff to inform their vote. But the personal and emotional toll on families and children from this level of housing insecurity can’t be captured solely by statistics. We are real people, with real families, and real children.

I, Council Member Stevens, ran for City Council because of my daughter and countless other youth facing housing insecurity. 

Landlords claim they are facing hardship, but among their other advantages, landlords received massive government payments to make up for missed rents from the covid pandemic. The New York City housing market has rebounded and is as profitable as ever – and we promise you, no landlord is going to go broke or become homeless if you don’t raise the rents. 

But tenants could be forced out on the streets. Our lives are the products of our housing situations. When we can’t afford the rent, when disrepair makes our homes uninhabitable, and when we live in fear of eviction, it’s draining. It affects our ability to be caretakers to parents and children, it affects the ability to hold down stable work, it affects our personal health. 

So we turn to organizing and turn our pain into protest and power. Because we know the people closest to the problems are closest to the solutions. We’re asking the Board to listen to our concerns and not raise our rents. 

The New York City rent regulation system was established to help counter inflation and ensure fair rents for New Yorkers. The Rent Guidelines Board has the power to address the affordability crisis strangling the city – or its members can make it much worse. 

We must provide security to our community members. We call on the RGB to uphold its responsibility to protect tenants. Hold true to your mandate and vote against rent hikes that are making the city unlivable. The future of millions of New Yorkers depends on it.

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New York City Council Member Althea Stevens represents parts of the Bronx. Mercedes Escoto is a CASA Leader. On Twitter @althea4theBX & @CASA_NYC.