As Mayor Adams Looks to Stack Rent Board, Tenant Groups Press Potential Appointees to ‘Refuse’

Outgoing Mayor Eric Adams is weighing new appointments to the Rent Guidelines Board in an effort to block Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s pledged rent freeze. But finding candidates willing to take the post—and face the wrath of tenant groups—could be a tall order.

As outgoing Mayor Eric Adams weighs appointing new members to the city’s Rent Guidelines Board during his final weeks in office, tenant groups have a message for any potential candidates: Don’t take the gig. 

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has pledged to appoint an RGB that will vote to freeze rents for the city’s 2 million tenants in rent stabilized apartments—a key measure in his campaign’s affordability platform. 

Carrying out a rent freeze would be harder to do if Adams makes any last-minute changes to the board, where several current members are serving in “expired” terms, meaning they could be reappointed or replaced by the mayor at any time. 

Before the end of the year, Adams—who opposes a rent freeze—could replace two public members, one landlord member, and one tenant member who would serve the remainder of terms that extend through 2026.

But tenant groups say they won’t make it easy for him. 

“If Adams asks you to serve on the RGB, we call on you to refuse,” the Rent Justice Coalition, made up of several tenant advocacy groups that have been fighting for a rent freeze, said in a joint statement Monday. 

“Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani won the most votes in a mayoral election since 1969 by centering a 4-year rent freeze for rent-stabilized tenants,” the Coalition said, adding that stacking the board now would “overrule” the desire of those voters. 

“Tenants will protest you every step of the way,” the Coalition—which include grassroots groups like the Crown Heights Tenant Union, Met Council on Housing and TenantsPAC—said. “So don’t make a deal with the devil or we’ll give you hell!”

Under Adams, stabilized tenants saw rent hikes each of the last four years, totaling a 12 percent increase. The mayor has criticized Mandani’s promised freeze, saying it would hurt small property owners who are already struggling to stay afloat. 

Groups that represent landlords of stabilized units say they rely on annual rent increases to offset other rising costs, like property taxes and insurance. A freeze, they say, would force owners to defer maintenance in already-aging buildings at a time when a growing segment of the city’s affordable housing stock is in financial distress. 

Mayor Adams cited those same reasons in June, when he asked the RGB’s members to “adopt the lowest increase possible” on stabilized rents this year (the board ultimately voted for a 3 percent increase on one-year leases, which took effect in October). 

City Limits reached out to several current Rent Guidelines Board members about potential re-appointment, but they were tight-lipped about any movement to stack the board.

In a statement to City Limits Wednesday, a spokesperson for Adams said the mayor “cares deeply about ensuring that his efforts to support working-class New Yorkers and promote the creation of as much affordable housing as possible continue beyond this administration.”

“Just as he inherited appointees from the Rent Guidelines Board when he took office, Mayor Adams has the authority to appoint members to the board,” the spokesperson said. “As with any potential appointments, we will announce them if and when they happen.”

But finding the right candidates to fill the posts will likely be tricky. To avoid a freeze, Adams would need to find a tenant member willing to raise the rent (likewise, should Adams appoint new members, Mamdami would need to find a landlord member willing to vote for a rent freeze).

To be eligible, appointees must have at least five years experience in either finance, economics or housing, but can’t be an officer with any property owner groups and can’t own or manage rentals impacted by RGB decisions. 

“I think anyone who’s taking this job under Eric Adams is completely an ideologue,” said Cea Weaver, director of the New York State Tenant Bloc, which has championed Mamdani’s rent freeze plan—a plan that proved popular at the polls. 

“New York voters were just like: ‘We want the rent freeze guy,'” Weaver added. “I can’t imagine who would accept it, other than someone who really wants to thwart a rent freeze, of which there are plenty of people.”

Mamdani’s camp has maintained that a rent freeze is justified after several years of increases for stabilized tenants, who earn a median income of $60,000 a year. He said he’d help small landlords struggling to maintain their buildings via existing city programs and by looking to curb rising costs like property taxes. 

Over 440,000 very low income tenants live in rent-regulated apartments, according to the Community Service Society. Nearly 70 percent of renters in regulated housing are Black or Latino, and 41 percent are immigrants. 

Earlier this week, Mayor-elect Mamdani met with organizers from CAAAV Voice, an advocacy group in Queens that’s part of the Rent Justice Coalition, “to talk about the future of our fight for a rent freeze and against displacement in New York City,” according to a post on his social media accounts. 

“We share a belief that everyone deserves to live a safe, dignified life, especially the working-class immigrants this city relies on,” Mamdani wrote.

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