NEW YORK (PIX11) -- The Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) is getting ready to vote on June 30 on a possible rent increase for the 2.4 million rent-stabilized tenants in the city.
Frustrated tenants in Brooklyn made it loud and clear Monday night that they cannot afford to pay one more penny on rent.
According to the NY State Tenant Block, just in Brooklyn, more than 700,000 rent-stabilized residents would benefit from a rent freeze. Esteban Giron is among them.
“You get less food, you ratio your medications, you do all these things you shouldn’t have to do, and all for the sake of the landlord’s profit,” said Giron.
The nine-member board appointed by Mayor Eric Adams will have to decide whether these tenants will get a rent freeze or will have to pay between 3.75% and 7.75% more for two-year leases, or 1.75% to 4.75% more for one-year leases starting in October.
“It has been under Eric Adams every single year, 9 percent so far during his tenure, which is more than Bill De Blasio's tenure as mayor. It’s a bad situation,” added Giron.
For Eli and her daughter Alondra, paying more money for rent equals less quality family time. They live in a two-bedroom apartment and at the moment pay close to 25-hundred-dollars a month.
“I would like to be with my parents, but I can’t because they have to work harder to pay the rent, and they are mostly not with me,” said Alondra.
Camille Sosa from the organization ‘neighbors helping neighbors’ says that if the rent does go up, immigrant tenants will be heavily impacted, adding that many of them are too afraid to even look for other housing options.
“A lot of tenants are right now scared, immigrant tenants, because of what’s going on in LA and here with the courts. Other tenants are also facing landlord harassment and are not getting repairs, but are still being asked to pay more money,” stated Sosa.
With the city facing a housing and affordability crisis, a rent freeze is a key issue in the upcoming primary election.
“We have the opportunity to elect a mayor who is going to enact a rent freeze. It is the only way tenants are going to be and show our power that way,” concluded Giron.
About half of the city’s rental apartments, about a million total, are rent-stabilized. The next RGB Public hearing will be in the Bronx on Thursday.
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