Board Backs Rent Increases for a Million N.Y.C. Apartments

The New York City panel that decides annually if and how much rents can go up for almost one million rent-stabilized apartments voted on Wednesday in favor of increases, after landlords said they needed more money to pay for rising expenses.

The nine-member panel, the Rent Guidelines Board, voted 5 to 4 to back increases of between 1.75 and 4.75 percent on one-year leases, and between 4.75 and 7.75 percent for two-year leases. The vote on Wednesday was preliminary, and a final number within those ranges is expected to be approved by the board in the next two months.

Any increase would affect stabilized leases that start on or after Oct. 1.

Landlords and several housing experts have said that rising insurance, fuel and other costs are making it difficult to maintain apartment buildings, particularly older ones.

As is the case after nearly every annual vote, the outcome on Wednesday seemed to make nobody happy.

Advocates for tenants, pointing to a worsening housing crisis, said the increases would push lower-income New Yorkers even closer to the brink.

Landlords, however, said the increases fell short of what they need.

The rent stabilization system covers roughly half of all apartments in New York City. It is an important source of affordability: The typical monthly cost of a rent-stabilized apartment is about $1,500, compared with around $2,000 for market-rate units, according to the most recent city data.

The board, whose members are appointed by the mayor, seeks to balance the interests of landlords and tenants.

The board looks at factors that primarily affect renters, including employment trends and wages, and those that affect landlords, including maintenance costs. The increases often track inflation, but are not directly pegged to it.

But the board’s decision also tends to reflect the priorities of the mayor.

Under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, who was seen as tenant-friendly, the board allowed barely any increases. During his eight-year term, the board froze rent on one-year leases three times and never raised it more than 1.5 percent.

During the tenure of the current mayor, Eric Adams, who has been more publicly supportive of landlords than Mr. de Blasio, the board has backed bigger increases as costs and inflation soared during the coronavirus pandemic. Last year, the board approved rent increases of 2.75 percent on one-year leases and 5.25 percent on two-year leases, similar to the prior two years.

Because of New York City’s housing crisis, with few vacancies and rising market-rate rents, the board’s decision has become immensely political.

Several candidates who are running for mayor had called for the board to not allow any increases. Mr. Adams, however, had called that posture “idealism,” and said that small property owners were feeling the burden of increasing costs.