It's been a busy last 24 hours for New York City — and one that will keep commercial real estate on edge. Yesterday, Zohran Mamdani floated a major property tax hike for New Yorkers. Now, the 34-year-old has announced the appointment of six new members to the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB).
The latter move now puts Mamdani in prime position to capitalize on perhaps his biggest promise on the campaign trail — freezing the rent on all stabilized units in the city. The appointees represent more than a majority on the nine-member board, paving the way for the freeze to happen as soon as this year.
The selections from Mamdani come following multiple resignations this month. One of them was former Mayor Eric Adams appointee, Alex Armlovich, who announced on X that he was leaving due to him taking on a new full-time role.
Chantella Mitchell, program director at the New York Community Trust, will lead as the RGB's next chair. The other appointees include Brandon Mancilla, director of United Auto Workers; Adán Soltren, a supervising attorney in the housing justice unit group advocacy practice at the Legal Aid Society; Maksim Wynn, director of development at Procida Development Group; Sina Sinai, senior research associate at the Jain Family Institute and Lauren Melodia, director of economic and fiscal policy at the center for New York City affairs at The New School.
All six new members will be tasked with setting rent adjustments on roughly one million stabilized units, which includes apartments, single-room occupancy and lofts. These units account for 44 percent of the city's rental housing stock.
"I'm proud to appoint these housing, finance, and budget experts to fill the open seats on the Rent Guidelines Board," Mamdani said in a statement.
"I'm confident that, under the leadership of Chantella Mitchell as chair, the board will take a clear-eyed look at the complex housing landscape and the realities facing our city's two million rent-stabilized tenants."
Mamdani's office said that this spring, the RGB will hold hearings across all boroughs in NYC after collecting and publishing data and hearing testimony from experts. Final and preliminary votes will then take place, with the new rent adjustment set to take effect on all leases between October 1, 2026 and September 30, 2027.
The RGB last froze rents in 2020 under Bill de Blasio's administration. This was also done in two straight years, from 2015 to 2016, when de Blasio was the Mayor.
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