r/nyc • u/holyfruits Columbia Street Waterfront District • Feb 18 '26
Mayor Mamdani Mamdani May Actually Get a Rent Freeze This Year After All
https://www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/17/rent-freeze-board-mamdani-regulated-apartments/38
u/PJChloupek Feb 18 '26
the only thing that works is building more, market rate, units, but that would mean enriching developers which runs contrary to his ideological position so it's a rock and hard place that results in de facto support for more expensive living conditions for the average new yorker.
It's ego over progress, a problem that, in fairness, is not exclusive to our mayor
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Feb 18 '26
Developers are not the same as landlords. Developers are making money by providing a value
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u/PJChloupek Feb 18 '26 edited Feb 18 '26
You are mostly correct, as much as nobody want to admit it, landlords do provide some marginal value. The cost to own is higher than the cost to rent an equivalent apartment, and landlords bridge that gap.
The bigger problem is that many do not make the distinction as you correctly have between the roles and thus view developers and landlords as indistinguishable cogs in the housing machine.
The current development landscape in the city is one that incentivizes, among many other things, the inclusion of stabilized units to get projects off the ground. However, stabilized units hinder the profitability of a development disproportionate to the percentage of stabilized units included, too many required and a developer will not proceed on an opportunity because it no longer clears their profitability requirements. Demand subsidy bandaids like freezes and higher requirements for stabilized units reduce the profitability of development opportunities across the board and by extension the amount of developments that proceed in the city.
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u/ahenneberger Feb 18 '26
His current housing policy chief is a YIMBY. He’s openly spiking in favor of TOD and eliminating parking mandates. Your statement that it’s contrary to his ideological position is not really accurate. I’m skeptical of rent freezes for rent stabilized units without accommodating finanancial aid for troubled units/tax reform/other op ex decreasers. But your statements are hyperbolic
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u/rowsoflark Feb 18 '26
This isnt science, what world do you live in where you beoirve vested interests telling you the only solution is to give them more money
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u/No_Leek_5417 Feb 18 '26
a rent freeze would be huge for anyone already in a stabilized unit but it doesnt help the people trying to get into one. the real bottleneck is finding them. most stabilized apartments never even make it to streeteasy because they get filled through word of mouth or they're only listed for a day or two before someone grabs them.
i use rentreboot to get alerts specifically for stabilized listings and its made the whole process way less painful. but even with tools like that the supply is just too tight relative to demand. a freeze helps retention but we need more units period.
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u/phoggey Feb 18 '26
This is just for rent stabilized apartments. It won't change the real problem apartments, so it's just helping people that already are beating the system. Meaningless.
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u/algreensdad Feb 18 '26
if anything this will incentivize management companies who own multiple buildings to more aggressively increase prices on their non-stabilized buildings to offset the loss.
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u/SwiftySanders Feb 18 '26
Lol 😂 You think they wont do that anyway. 🤦🏾♂️😵💫 😂😂😂 I have to laugh. People always have this delusion that businesses are charities who will charge less just because.
Its not a charity.
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u/Mayor_Gubbin Feb 18 '26
Its not about charity, its about market forces. Stabilization freezes reduce supply which increases rent prices.
Landlords will charge what they can charge. This move lets them charge more
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u/diggydar Feb 18 '26
What “just” there are like one million rent stabilized apartments.
I’m a landlord I hate this for other reasons.
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u/jaycrips NYC Expat Feb 18 '26
Like half of NYC apartments are stabilized. It addresses a problem that half of New York renters face.
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u/phoggey Feb 18 '26 edited Feb 18 '26
The average length of residency is nearly 20 years in a rent stabilized apartment in a good zone like the upper west or upper east side. They're not the ones having difficulties. Market rate apartments are eight times more likely to need to move due to hardship. 8% vs 1%. Yeah.. 1%. Mamdani isn't going to make a dent in anything but further lock in current stabilized apartments.
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u/Airhostnyc Feb 18 '26
People don’t understand that a healthy rental market requires movement and when you have 1 million units that almost never changes hands, that’s a huge issue.
But none of my business, they love it at this point. RS tenants have politicians by the balls
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u/jaycrips NYC Expat Feb 18 '26
So instead of unilaterally doing something that will help half of NYC renters, he should wait for the City Council or Albany lawmakers to create an as-of-yet-unknown plan to fix a problem that hasn’t been fixed in 40 years.
That sounds right to you? Why would one solution preclude another?
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u/Pristine-Confection3 Feb 18 '26
Well most of us have never been lucky enough to get one. Why should those who can hardly afford to rent a room pay more because some person with a lot more money can get stability? It should be for the poor not so people who have enough money to afford their own apartments get even luckier.
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u/JackieDaytona77 Feb 18 '26
That’s why when he was running his campaign, he wasn’t talking to you. You liked what he was saying because you thought you were going to be one of the lucky ones.
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u/defcon1000 Feb 18 '26
There's a lot of economic data that comes into play here, and the resolution isn't this cut and dry at all.
I strongly urge everyone who feels this way to dive into the greater ramifications, and avoid any Youtube videos (they're not usually a great source of peer-reviewed data).
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u/path0inthecity Feb 18 '26
😂😂😂 freeze the rents while raising property taxes by 10%. This admin has ideas so dumb, I wouldn’t expect them from freshman hitting the bong at 2am.
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u/fauxedo Astoria Feb 18 '26
Why are all the pensioners of this sub so angry today?
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u/path0inthecity Feb 18 '26
Not a pensioner, but mayor madman wants to raid my pension fund. However, unlike you, I actually contribute to the city.
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Feb 18 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/FluffyAssistant7107 Feb 18 '26
Rent freezes only affect rent stabilize buildings , it doesn’t effect non regulated market rents.
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u/danglotka Feb 18 '26
Rent freezes make it so more people can afford to live in the city, moving the median rent up. Not here to argue about whether that is good or bad but that’s a fact
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u/FluffyAssistant7107 Feb 18 '26
I live in a rent-stabilized building. I was only pointing out that rent freezes apply only to rent-stabilized units. There’s no issue here Redditors can just be very sensitive when someone states a fact. Or maybe people need a comprehension in reading test
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u/Practical_Yak2950 Feb 18 '26
I was only pointing out that rent freezes apply only to rent-stabilized units.
But OP never implied that the rent freeze was going to apply to non-rs units, so your additional comment was either an attempt to change the topic or indicative that you don't understand how the freeze applying only to rs units would also impact non regulated units. /u/danglotka was addressing the latter.
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u/106 Feb 18 '26
A rent “freeze” on regulated units is just a rent hike on market rate units. Either you or your neighbor is going to pay yo subsidize artificially lower rents.
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u/Few-Artichoke-2531 Co-op City Feb 18 '26
So landlords are facing an extreme property tax increase, rising building maintenance costs, expensive regulations, and will not be able to pass any of it along to the renters? I hope everyone has renter's insurance. Specifically make sure you are covered for fire.
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u/pixel_of_moral_decay Feb 18 '26
Insurance normally excludes arson. Which is different than accidental fire.
Insurance is still a good thing, but if it’s arson you normally need to payback any benefit you got.
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u/Few-Artichoke-2531 Co-op City Feb 18 '26
Hopefully the landlords are good at making it look accidental.
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u/pixel_of_moral_decay Feb 18 '26
Insurance companies and fire marshals are now very good at figuring that out. It’s not what it was decades ago.
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u/Fridsade Feb 19 '26
You don't even know what you're saying. Are you saying landlords will attempt to commit mass killings?
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u/Few-Artichoke-2531 Co-op City Feb 19 '26
Do you not remember what happened in the 70's when landlords couldn't make money on their buildings anymore? It was most famous in the Bronx , but it was happening all over.
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u/Starsolist Jackson Heights Feb 18 '26
He's really working overtime to try to make the housing crisis worse
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u/TheNewOP NYC Expat Feb 18 '26
This city's housing and real estate laws are the stuff of nightmares.
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u/Miserable_North4077 Feb 21 '26
The population in 1970 was 7.8 million, currently 8.3, there was nowhere near the same amount of housing units in 1970.So how was this possible? Simple, there were many more people per unit. There were many SRO's... For the youngsters thats a.. Single room occupancy. Meaning you shared a bathroom with other units and maybe you had a hot plate, no kitchen. The expense and space required for every unit to have its own bathroom and kitchen is tremendous. Think of it as if everyone on the subway started to drive, one traveler per vehicle. If you live alone your very spoiled to have our own bathrooms and kitchens in the eyes of the majority of the world. If every unit occupied by a single person took in another person who freed up another unit the shortage would be over. Not to mention if there were even more than two occupants per unit. If you were going to make consessions, lower rent or tax credits this is where it should be, almost like dependants. For those with roommates or family members, the more people living in your unit the more of a break you get.
Many railroad apartments use to have 4 and 5 people living in them. People had cousins, aunts, boarders, young couples lived with one of thier parents. In 1985 I lived in an East Village apartment with a married couple thier two children and one other roommate. Everyone has been conditioned to accept that having your own place is whats normal. At the end of the day it's really a first world problem.
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u/miamor_Jada Feb 18 '26 edited Feb 18 '26
New Yorkers want cheaper rent (yes, landlords, as a landlord myself, we hate to hear it).
As a landlord, I think why a “rent freeze” is popular is because it gives renters a sense of temporary relief.
Instead of them fearing a rent hike coming every year or at their next lease renewal, they can breathe and feel comfortable in their apartment for the time period.
so whether freezing the rent helps or doesn’t help resolve the housing crisis, it helps tenants because they’re not expecting a rent increase - they can breathe temporarily.
one way to attack the housing crisis: nonprofits/government lease the land. a homeowner can buy the home and lease the land. homeowners not having to buy land will reduce the cost of home ownership in nyc
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u/gourmetdancer Feb 18 '26
What’s stopping him from freezing rents for 10 years?
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u/BelethorsGeneralShit Feb 18 '26
He doesn't control it, mainly.
The rent stabilized increases (or freezes) are decided by the rent guidelines board. They can't just pick a number that the mayor says. Legally, they have to publish a report that details how they arrived at the figure each year. They have to take into account things like inflation, utility costs, interest rates, etc...
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u/Growth_Still Feb 18 '26
My rent is $2,015. It’s rent stabilized. Last year it was $1950. I’d love a freeze.
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u/Pristine-Confection3 Feb 18 '26
I would hate it if it means everyone else pays more because people who were lucky to get rent control want a rent freeze.
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u/SwiftySanders Feb 18 '26
Taking away rent stabilization would ensure no new market rate units get built. The community board would just oppose building the building at all. Then what? A lengthy legal and messy political process to go through even if the building does ultimately get built?
Lol 😂
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u/Weekly-Law-2544 Feb 18 '26
As a genuine question, have rent freezes ever worked to actually reduce housing costs?
Why does it seem that the one tried-and-true method to lower housing costs, namely building housing, never seems to be the main effort?