'If the RGB members buckle under the political pressure and continue to defund rent-stabilized buildings, again, then the city's housing problems will get worse.'
Now that we are several months removed from that political theater it is time to have a sober conversation about the vote and its impact on housing. Since the vote inflation has gotten worse, not better. The cost of providing rent-stabilized housing is on a path to go up more than 10% this year, more than double the 4.7% projection by the RGB. On the other side of the ledger, the RGB rent adjustment doesn’t come close to covering those rising costs.
For these buildings, a 3.25% rent adjustment by the RGB amounts to a $37.57 increase of the rent. The projected operating cost increase for these apartments, according to the RGB’s Price Index of Operating Costs , is $40.84, only a slight defunding of units. CHIP estimates actual operating costs will be nearly double what the 2022 PIOC estimated. For the older buildings in the outer boroughs, that means $78.25 per apartment per month. With rental income only increasing $37.57, on average, that means apartments are losing $40.68 in net operating income or NOI, which goes to paying the mortgage, capital improvements, and various other costs not tracked by the RGB when they calculate rent increases.