Tenants Rally To Stop Rent Hikes Amid Wartime Inflation, Federal Benefit Cuts, and ICE escalations
NEW YORK – On Thursday, May 7, hundreds of New Yorkers gathered to call on the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) to freeze rents for over 2 million rent-stabilized tenants before the RGB’s Preliminary Vote. Tenants demanded the RGB deliver on a rent freeze – a core plank of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s affordability agenda supported by over one million New Yorkers – and pushed for a rent freeze on both one and two year leases, an unprecedented step needed to match the unprecedented crises tenants are facing across the city. Tonight, the RGB recognized both the data and the power of organized tenants by adopting preliminary ranges of 0-2% for one year leases and 0-4% for two year leases, the first time the RGB has proposed a rent freeze on two year leases in the board’s history. The tenant representatives even proposed a negative adjustment range of -3-0% for 1 year leases and -4.5-0% for two year leases.
Tenants have been organizing for more than a year for this rent freeze and are celebrating this victory. Ahead of the vote, tenants held a press conference to affirm the citywide mandate for a rent freeze, recount the multiple crises facing tenants including inflation, benefit cuts, and ICE escalations, and to refute landlords’ demands for a rent hike. Several speakers described the long-term neglect and disrepair in their homes, demonstrating that rent hikes don’t result in better living conditions.
NYC’s labor unions also lent their support to the demand for a rent freeze. Taxi cab drivers from NYC Taxi Workers Alliance blocked lanes of traffic to protect the crowd during the rally.
“When tenants get organized, participate in the political process, and use their political power, we can win. Organized tenants helped put Zohran Mamdani in office, and organized tenants will ensure the Rent Guidelines Board delivers on a promise supported by over one million New Yorkers. A rent freeze on one and two year leases is a common-sense intervention supported by the data and by tenants who make up the majority of New York City,” said Sumathy Kumar, NYS Tenant Bloc Director.
“This moment belongs to tenants who made history last year with an unprecedented turnout fueled by deep organizing in our communities. We showed what’s possible when working-class New Yorkers come together, and now we are returning with even greater determination to fight for a rent freeze. This rally is about carrying that momentum forward and continuing the fight for housing stability for millions of New Yorkers.” said Joanne Grell, CASA Leader and Tenant Bloc Rent Freeze Campaign Co-chair.
Bed-Stuy resident and Met Council on Housing member Darryl Randall said, “This isn’t rocket science. I live on a fixed income, and each rent hike puts more pressure on my already limited budget… I’ve lived in Brooklyn for 40 years, and I’ve never been robbed. But I feel like I’ve been robbed by landlords and policies that take money out of my pocket and force me to make decisions about what to eat in a day so that I can pay rent.”
CAAAV Chinatown youth leader Shelby Chen said, “In working class immigrant communities, rent is our biggest bill every month. At the same time, landlords have grown their net operating income by 30% over the past three years. New York City is my home—Why do landlords and real estate get to shape our lives like this? It’s time for Mamdani’s RGB to use rent-stabilization for its true purpose: to stabilize our city and keep people in our homes.”
Jen Gaboury, First Vice President of the Professional Staff Congress, the union representing 30,000 faculty and staff at CUNY said, “It’s fitting that the Rent Guidelines Board is holding its preliminary vote and two hearings at CUNY colleges because the faculty and staff, the students we educate, and the communities we serve all need the same thing: a rent freeze. CUNY workers, like all public servants, should be able to afford to live in the city where they work. CUNY retirees should be able to afford to stay in their communities, and students should be able to afford to build their futures here in New York.”
New York Taxi Workers Alliance Executive Director Bhairavi Desai said, “One million New Yorkers — including thousands of NYTWA members and their families — could face rent hikes they can’t afford if we don’t win a rent freeze. Meanwhile, under the war economy, nearly 180,000 working-class New Yorkers who make their living as Uber, Lyft, yellow cab, and livery drivers are struggling with escalating gas prices and grocery bills on top of sky-high insurance rates — as much as $12,000 a year. NYTWA members are uniting with our labor and community allies to say, enough is enough. We need a rent freeze now to stop the tidal wave of poverty and debt sweeping across the city we call home.”
Tenants were united in demanding that the RGB approve a rent freeze for one-year leases—only the third time such an action would be taken—and to extend a rent freeze to two-year leases for the first time in the board’s history. Tenant leaders called on New Yorkers to organize their buildings and to participate in the RGB process to ensure that the board delivers both a one- and two-year rent freeze at its final vote.
Photos of the event are available below:
Credit: Karya Schanilec for Tenant Bloc
Credit: Denis for Met Council on Housing
BACKGROUND
Last year, New York’s tenant movement out-organized real estate, corporate, and MAGA interests to put a rent freeze on the ballot and elect a mayor responsive to tenants. Tenant Bloc collected 20,000 signatures from rent-stabilized tenants, who pledged to vote for a rent freeze mayor, and one million New Yorkers voted for that demand – a core plank of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s agenda – in November. Tenants make up a 70 percent majority in New York City, and they are calling for the Rent Guidelines Board to deliver that rent freeze amid a deepening affordability crisis.
Under the previous mayoral administration, the Rent Guidelines Board hiked up rents four years in a row — by a total of over 12 percent — and net operating income for rent stabilized landlords grew by 30 percent in that period. Meanwhile, half of rent-stabilized tenants are now struggling to make ends meet, two-thirds lack emergency savings, and evictions in rent-stabilized buildings jumped nearly 12% in 2025. More, the Trump administration has initiated cuts to critical social supports including SNAP, housing aid, healthcare, and childcare, while ramping up ICE raids and abductions in sanctuary cities. In this context, a rent freeze is a common sense intervention. An analysis from the Community Service Society shows a rent freeze would save New Yorkers up to $7 billion — nearly $600 per month. And 78% of New Yorkers now support a rent freeze.
Despite rent hikes under the Adams administration, tenants continued to face poor living conditions, and tenant reports of a lack of heat or hot water increased. Studies have affirmed that tenants see no improvement to their building or apartment despite rent increases. Rather than investing rents into repairs and maintenance, rent-stabilized landlords used tenants’ rent to finance their debts and speculate on buying new properties — betting on their ability to destabilize apartments and displace New Yorkers.
Rent stabilization exists to protect the working people of New York; 37% of very low-income NYC households live in rent stabilized housing. While the state’s biggest lobbies — the Real Estate Board of New York, New York Apartment Association, and the Small Property Owners of New York — have been fighting to overturn and strip back rent-stabilization, tenants are organizing to ensure the policy serves its true purpose: to protect New Yorkers and keep them in New York.
