Mayor Bill de Blasio today suddenly announced that he is “encouraging” the Rent Guidelines Board to impose a rent freeze for the first time in its history.
Speaking at a bill-signing ceremony in Queens, the mayor said the board under the Bloomberg administration has granted undeserved increases to landlords and it was now time to make amends.
“I’m encouraging all the members of the Rent Guidelines Board to vote for a freeze. We need a course correction,” the mayor said.
He specifically called for a zero percent hike for one-year leases renewals.
The board meets tonight at Cooper Union to decide on increases for about a million rent-stabilized apartments.
It has never, since its creation in 1969, voted for increases less than 2 percent for one-year lease renewals and 4 percent for two-year leases.
De Blasio called for a rent freeze last year when he was campaigning for City Hall. But, until today, he has only made general statements this year about what the board should do.