Last week the Rent Guidelines Board froze rents on a million stabilized apartments. The same week, Tracey Towers in the Bronx — where my aunts and cousins still live — got a proposed 31% increase over four years. Tenants were told 28. The difference is compounding, which is apparently the only kind of math this administration doesn’t celebrate on TikTok.
The city’s line is that state law makes them do it. Half true: the law says the rent has to cover the building’s costs. It doesn’t say tenants are the only ones who can cover them. Loan modifications, subsidy, financing tools — all on the table. The city chose the version where the rent goes up.
Final approval comes this fall. That’s the window. If you want to follow the people actually fighting this, start with the Tracey Towers Tenant Organization.
