Mamdani’s campaign promise is fulfilled: The Rent Guidelines Board approved 0% rent increases on one and two-year leases. Here’s what that means for your lease.
In a raucous auditorium flooded with bright red “Freeze the Rent!” posters and tenants chanting, the Rent Guidelines Board approved a signature campaign promise of Mayor Zohran Mamdani: 0% rent increases on one- and two-year rent-stabilized leases.
The 7-1 vote on Thursday night was met with deafening cheering as the mayor’s six appointees to the board voting unanimously for the rent freeze.
It’s a huge difference-maker for tenants in 1 million stabilized apartments, some of whom planned their apartment leases around the Mamdani administration, waiting for this moment.
One was Stephen White, who has been living in his Crown Heights apartment since 2002. He bet on Mamdani’s promise of a rent freeze last year, signing only a one-year lease, with a 3% increase then — instead of a two-year option with a 4.5% increase — because he guessed the rent board would deliver a freeze come 2026.