The FARE Act could save renters thousands of dollars on upfront costs. Meanwhile, there's been some debate on what will happen with rents and if landlords will quietly bake them into monthly payments. However, Mohamed isn't buying that notion.

"I don't think that's going to happen. Almost 50% of the housing market in New York City is rent stabilized," she explained.

"So what that means is that there's a legal cap on 50% of the apartments, so landlords cannot pass that cost through [on that portion of the housing stock]."

Specifically, the NYC Rent Guidelines Board estimates that one million of NYC's 2.3 million apartments are rent-stabilized.

LACK OF SUPPLY REMAINS THE BIGGEST ISSUE

Regardless, the elimination of broker fees will help many renters — but Mohamed did note that a lot of those types of apartments already don't pass those charges onto tenants. This is to make those properties more competitive.

But a bigger and broader problem remains — limited supply. New York nonprofit group Citizens Budget Commission estimates that the city needs hundreds of thousands of additional units to close the housing shortage gap. A 2024 study by McKinsey & Company pinpointed the total at 540,000 units.

"Any type of legislation that makes it easier to build housing in New York City is going to help," Mohamed said.

CITY OF YES AND RESI CONVERSIONS

One of those policies was the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, an initiative that amends the city's zoning code to loosen restrictions on residential developments.

As of late, some developers in the city are trying to make use of vacant office space and repurpose it for residential use. One of them is the site at 5 Times Square, which will transform from a 38-story skyscraper into 1,050 studio apartments and 200 one-bedroom units. One of the biggest office-to-resi conversions in the city is the project at 219 and 235 East 42nd Street in Midtown East, which served as the former headquarters of Pfizer. Joint venture partners, Metro Loft Management and David Werner Real Estate Investments are looking to turn the vacant site into 1,602 luxury apartments, with 25 percent getting set aside for affordable housing.

In total, the City of Yes alone is expected to create 18,000 new homes through conversion across 120 million square feet, according to Mayor Eric Adams' office.

"I think it's a really creative policy to use underutilized space in New York City and turn it into housing," Mohamed said.

One caveat, however, is that some of the projects, especially in Midtown, could still come with expensive rents. For example, a studio that costs $2,000 per month "just isn't going far enough," she warned.

After all, 58.5 percent of residential tenants in the city are considered rent-burdened, according to a recent report from Lu Chen and Mary Le at Moody’s.

RENT FREEZES WILL HELP IN A VACUUM

The moves come as the Democratic Mayoral primary is just weeks away. The winner will have a big influence on the direction the city takes on housing.

The recent polling indicates that it will likely be a two-way race between New York State Representative Zohran Mamdani and former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo. Both have put together separate plans to build housing. A key difference between the two, however, when it comes to the topic, is implementing a rent freeze, which has been endorsed by Mamdani — but not Cuomo.

The next Mayor would be able to decide on who serves on the Rent Guidelines Board, which is likely to approve a rent increase of up to 7.75 percent this month. Mohamed calls rent freezes a "band-aid" solution — but not something that will solve the full crisis.

"I think rent freezes are going to give short-term relief to renters who are really struggling," she said.

But again, the heavily under-supplied market comes into play. The city and the new Mayor will need to work together with developers and landlords to solve the problem to spur project developments, according to Mohamed.

For example, she wonders if rent freezes in exchange for tax breaks on property taxes, or implementing a reimbursement program for costs will be enough to compromise and satisfy everyone from renters to landlords.