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VOTING ON RENT INCREASES

Rent Increases Coming—Rent Guidelines Board Public Hearing, Monday, June 8

​You can give testimony—tell your story—to the Rent Guidelines Board at a public hearing. Can't be there? You can submit a written statement. See below.

Right now more landlords than tenants have registered to testify.

DON'T LET THEM HIJACK THE MEETING!

What: Public Hearing for Rent Increases for Leases Starting on or Being Renewed as of October 1, 2015.

Proposed increase range: 1-year lease: 0%–2%; 2-year lease: 0.5%–3.5%.

When: Monday, June 8, 2:00 p.m.– 6:00 p.m.

Where: Elebash Recital Hall, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue (between 34th and 35th Streets).

Why: Tenant testimony is critical. Share your personal story about how important it has been in your life to have an affordable rent. If you pay a high rent, let the RGB know how you are struggling to pay it and are having to consider alternatives.

How: Keep it simple. You will have two minutes to testify, so write out or outline what you want to say ahead of time. You need describe only your own situation. You don't have to know anything about the economics of real estate or how your landlord is doing financially. The most compelling testimony will be about the difficulties caused by rent increases to average, individual tenants.

TO TELL YOUR STORY:

In person: Preregister to testify either by email at ask@nycrgb.org or by phone at (212) 385-2934, or register in person at the start of the hearing.

Important: Preregistrants should check in at the check-in desk at the hearing or lose their place.

In writing: You may submit your views in writing by addressing them to the Chair or any Board member, c/o NYC Rent Guidelines Board, 51 Chambers St., Suite 202, New York, NY 10007 or by email: chair@nycrgb.org.

A rent freeze or a nominal increase is not a shoo-in. Only by showing up in respectable numbers to testify will we remind the RGB it has a mandate to treat tenants fairly.

Right now federal, state, and city elected officials are in our camp, supporting middle-class affordability. If we don’t show up at the RGB on Monday, June 8, they will think we don’t really care. We can’t afford to be apathetic.

The final RGB vote will be held on Monday, June 24, at 6:00 p.m. in the Great Hall at Cooper Union, 7 East 7th Street at the corner of Third Avenue.

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