In what New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani described as a “historic victory” for tenants, New York City housing officials recently approved his rent freeze, which will lock in rents for roughly a million regulated apartments in the Big Apple.Yet, one board member blasted the decision, accusing the board of ignoring its own economic research to reach a predetermined outcome after Mamdani packed the Rent Guidelines Board with partisans.“This rebuilt board was required to deliver a rent freeze,” Christina Smyth wrote in a three-page resignation letter. “Everything since has been theater. The hearings, the reports, the public comment, the data. None of it was ever going to change the result.”
Smyth, a real estate lawyer appointed to the board by Mamdani’s predecessor, Eric Adams, was referring to the board’s own research reports, which indicate that net incomes for landlords are falling even as building operating costs are rising faster than inflation.The board, Smyth said, was “knowingly disregarding its own evidence of rising costs and falling income.”A quick look at the numbers shows Smyth is right.Data collected by the board show that the price index of operating costs increased by roughly 33% from 2019 to 2025, as several categories outpaced inflation. Insurance costs saw the steepest increase by far, climbing 150%, while maintenance expenses rose 39% and utility bills increased 31%. Spending on labor, fuel, property taxes, and administrative costs generally tracked overall inflation. Meanwhile, the consumer price index rose by just 24%.
