A last-minute decision by former New York City Mayor Eric Adams to appoint new members to the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) has triggered concern among tenant advocates, who warn the move could undermine a proposed rent freeze promised by new Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
The controversy was highlighted in a widely shared Instagram post by New York attorney and housing advocate Leah Goodridge, Esq. (@leahfrombklyn), who accused Mayor Adams of using his remaining days in office to reshape the city’s rent-setting body in a way that may constrain the next administration.
How the Rent Guidelines Board Works
The Rent Guidelines Board is a nine-member panel responsible for voting annually on rent adjustments for the city’s rent-stabilized apartments, which house more than one million New Yorkers. All members of the board are appointed by the mayor and serve fixed terms.
According to Goodridge, Mayor Adams recently appointed new RGB members to two-year terms, just days before his expected departure from office.
That decision, she argues, could leave a majority of Adams-appointed members in place under a future Mamdani administration—making it significantly harder to secure a rent freeze even if the next mayor supports one.
“In order for there to be a rent freeze, the Rent Guidelines Board has to vote for it,” Goodridge explained in an accompanying video. “By locking in these appointments, Mayor Adams has made it much more difficult for a future administration to change the board’s direction.”
Tenant Groups Raise Alarm
Tenant organizers across the city responded swiftly, with advocacy groups including Crown Heights Tenant Union, CASA Bronx, Woodside on the Move, and the Metropolitan Council on Housing warning that the move risks prolonging what they describe as a landlord-friendly era in city housing policy.
Goodridge, who previously served on the RGB after being appointed by former Mayor Bill de Blasio, said rent increases under Adams have been among the highest in more than a decade. She recalled that at one point, the board even considered rent hikes as high as 16 percent, a proposal that was ultimately beaten back by organized tenant protests.
“New Yorkers showed up, took over hearings, and made it clear that such increases were unacceptable,” she said, crediting sustained grassroots pressure for stopping the proposed hike.
Political and Legal Implications
While it remains unclear whether Mayor Adams’ appointments will definitively block a rent freeze, housing lawyers say the move raises questions about democratic accountability during leadership transitions.
Tenant advocates argue that decisions with long-term consequences for housing affordability should be left to an incoming administration with a fresh mandate. They also note that the RGB’s composition has an outsized impact on low- and middle-income households already struggling with rising living costs.
For Mamdani, whose campaign centered on freezing rents to stabilize housing costs, the new board configuration could mean facing an institutional barrier before his policies can even be debated.
As New York’s housing debate continues, tenant organizers say vigilance and public pressure will remain crucial tools in determining whether rent relief becomes reality or remains a campaign slogan.
