Yesterday, a Supreme Court judge held the decision to support a rent freeze for all rent-stabilized apartments. Last year, the Rent Stabilization Association (RSA) comprised of 25,000 landlords, filed a lawsuit last year in response to the Rent Guidelines Board 's (RBG) decision to freeze one-year leases and increase two-year leases by 2%. The RSA argued that the court did not take into account the decision's full economic impact In the end, the Supreme Court decided that there was precedence and that the RGB was allowed to consider the economic situations of tenants when making its decisions. In addition, RGB commissioned reports from last year stated that the operating costs for rent stabilized buildings were trending downwards. [1]

"I am happy that this decision is coming at a time when my district is experiencing the highest eviction rate in the city and when many New Yorkers find themselves under financial duress," said Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte. "With wages being stagnant across most sectors and with basic necessities like food and transportation going up, most people cannot absorb one more cost. Also, no doubt that a decision not to uphold the freeze would have increased the number of homeless families we are seeing, of which a significant percentage come from rent-stabilized apartments."

The RBG, which is mandated to establish rent adjustments for the one million rent stabilized apartments in NYC, is set to begin it's public hearing process tomorrow, with a preliminary vote coming on April 25th, with a final vote coming in June or July.

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