Last night hundreds of New York City residents turned out to the annual Rent Guidelines Board meeting at Cooper Union to demand a rent freeze.
Every year this mayoral-appointed body meets to decide how much landlords should be able to increase rent in the five boroughs in the city’s 1 million “rent-stabilized” apartments. This year, the Board voted 5-4 for a 1% rent increase — below the normal rate in recent years, but a disappointment for tenants who Mayor Bill De Blasio had excited with his campaign promise to fight for a complete rent freeze.
When the decision was announced, the Board was quickly whisked off of the stage as police and private security held back the enraged crowd back from mounting the stage.
The Board affirmed its basic function as a rubber stamp for landlords interests. It has never voted for a rent freeze, even in times of deep economic crisis, stagnant wages and soaring cost-of-living costs. According to some estimates, one out of every three city residents in rent-stabilized apartments are putting at least half of their income into rent.
Below is an interview with housing activist Joseph Cepeda from the Bronx who speaks about the difficult decisions families face when their income is not enough to cover rent and other necessities.
Throughout the night, the hall was clearly polarized along class lines. Hundreds of struggling rent-paying families from the city’s multinational working class heckled and chanted at the Rent Guidelines Board: “No rent freeze, no peace.” In the far back right corner of the auditorium, a small clique of mostly white landlords dressed in suits stayed silent.
It was an image right out of A Tale of Two Cities that showed that the “99%,” despite their numerical weight, live in a city and country run by the 1%.
The vote confirmed that we cannot depend on politicians who act as the Executive Committee of the capitalist class to to improve our lives. History has proven that it’s only when the working class takes matters into its own hands that we can achieve short-term victories and our own definitive liberation.
