1250 Broadway, 27th Floor New York, NY 10001

WHY PAY MORE RENT?

Dear Friends,

Rent doesn't rise on its own. Every year, the Rent Guidelines Board sets the rates for more than a million rent-regulated apartments. Even as the economy crashed, the Board sent rents higher. And now, with incomes for working people stagnant, unemployment high and inequality on the rise—it's poised to do it again.

> Sign our petition demanding a freeze on rent hikes

To ask working and middle class New Yorkers to pay another $500 or $1,000 in rent each year is unacceptable in these tough times. According to one report, roughly half of all New Yorkers are living in or near poverty. Meanwhile, no other city in the nation has rents as high as New York.

To add insult to injury, the Rent Guidelines Board has decided to forgo even a single hearing in the outer boroughs this year—ensuring the overwhelming majority of people hurt by its proposed rent hike won't have a voice in the process. The Board's sole hearing in Lower Manhattan on Thursday, June 13 at 10 AM will be their only venue to hear from New Yorkers. This is not a mere inconvenience – it is a downright failure of the democratic process.

To help ensure that the voices of the people can be heard, Community Action for Safe Apartments-New Settlement along with other tenant advocacy groups will host their own rent hearing tonight in the Bronx. The hearing will take place at the New Settlement Community Center located at 1501 Jerome Avenue at 172nd Street in the Bronx, from 5:30 pm to 9:30 pm.

I'll be there, and I hope you will too. Together, let's send a powerful message that New Yorkers won't tolerate another rent hike.

Best,

Bill de Blasio
NYC Public Advocate

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