We demand a Rent Freeze!
The Board has voted on increases that have caused owner income per unit to rise by double digits over the last decade. These increases have been based primarily on a price index of operating costs (PIOC) that only considers the landlords’ side of the balance sheet, and which has been shown, when compared to the actual data landlords have reported to the Department of Finance, to overstate landlord costs by 11% since 2005. Meanwhile, tenants’ ability to pay has gone ignored, through the Great Recession and in an era when everyday life has become exceedingly difficult to afford for so many New Yorkers.
Since the market crash in 2008, tenants have faced average yearly rent increases of 3.1% compared to the average national asking rent increase during that period of 0.6%, creating the highest rent burdens ever recorded; the median amount of rent paid by stabilized tenants has increased to 34.9% of household incomes.
We demand a Rent Freeze in 2019
*Information including email addresses will be shared with the Rent Guidelines Board and Rent Justice Coalition.