Nassau Rent Guidelines Board approves hikes of up to 2% for rent-regulated units
Opponents of rent hikes at the meeting of the Nassau County Rent Guidelines Board in Mineola on Wednesday. Credit: James Staubitser
The Nassau County Rent Guidelines Board voted Wednesday to allow rent increases of up to 2% for rent-regulated units across the county, except for in the Village of Hempstead, where no hikes were authorized because of concerns about negligent landlords.
The Rent Guidelines Board authorized landlords to raise rent by as much as 1% for one-year leases and 2% for two-year leases beginning Oct. 1. No such increases will be permitted within the village, where at prior meetings, dozens of tenants described landlords collecting additional income by raising parking rates and other ancillary fees while allowing conditions to deteriorate.
The vote came the same night as New York City's Rent Guidelines Board approved a rent hike on rent-stabilized apartments.
Adam Mahoney, one of eight members of the Nassau County Rent Guidelines Board, said in reference to excluding the village from the increases: “I understand that there are very good landlords in Hempstead, but it seems the majority are very bad. Hopefully, the good landlords will bring pressure to bear on the bad landlords to do the right thing.”
William Bailey, a tenant organizer with the Hempstead-based New York Communities for Change, said “it’s sad,” that tenants outside the village will have to make tough financial decisions. He wasn’t optimistic that the rent freeze in the village would compel owners to fix up buildings.
“I don’t trust them at all,” Bailey said.
Board members described the increases authorized elsewhere as a fair compromise during a year of soaring inflation. As of April, the consumer price index for the metropolitan area was up 3.7% over the past year, according to data presented to the board. The state estimates Nassau apartment owners' income rose 2.9%, and their expenses grew 4.4% — or 6.4% when excluding interest and depreciation — from 2020-21 to 2021-22, according to an unaudited survey of the finances of regulated and market-rate units in 96 developments.
More than 30 people gathered at the Nassau County Legislative Building to hear the decision. Long Beach Tenant Association President Michael Schnier said afterward that absorbing another cost increase would be challenging for many in the area.
“It’s going to hurt the people that can least afford it,” Schnier said.
Nassau had about 6,500 occupied rent-regulated apartments and 220 vacant ones in 2022, according to data from the state Homes and Community Renewal, an agency focused on housing and development. Landlords could rent these units for an average of $1,685 last year, the agency has said.
Owners said at prior Rent Guidelines Board meetings that limited increases would make covering repairs and maintenance difficult in buildings with rent-regulated units, which were constructed before 1974.
Meanwhile, in Manhattan, a hearing Wednesday night of New York City's Rent Guidelines Board at Hunter College ended in whistles and jeers over its 5-4 vote to hike rent on rent-stabilized apartments: 3% on one-year leases and 2.75% and then 3.2% for two-year leases.
The vote affects about 2 million New Yorkers.
Last month, the board had tentatively greenlit increases on rent-regulated units: between 2% and 5% on one-year leases and between 4% and 7% on two-year leases.
Wednesday's vote was the second time rent has been increased under Mayor Eric Adams, who appoints the board and has said he's sympathetic to landlords' costs.
The increases last year were 3.25% on one-year leases and 5% on two-year leases.
Adams, in a statement, called the vote "extremely difficult work protecting tenants from unsustainable rent increases, while also ensuring small property owners have the necessary resources to maintain their buildings and preserve high-quality, affordable homes for New Yorkers."
The Legal Aid Society, which opposes increases, said in a statement: “With tonight’s vote to increase rents for some of our most vulnerable neighbors, more New Yorkers will find themselves displaced from their homes and communities onto the streets or in local shelters."
With Matthew Chayes
Sarina Trangle covers affordability and cost of living issues and other business topics. She previously worked as an editor and reporter at amNewYork.
