Housing Notebook

• Topics of general interest to tenants, and specifically the upcoming Rent Guidelines Board hearings. -

RGB VOTES -- ONE STEP CLOSER TO A RENT FREEZE

The NYC Rent Guidelines Board held its preliminary vote for guidelines affecting nearly one million apartments effective October 1, 2026. A potential two-year rent freeze is part of the preliminary guideline. Hearings to start soon, and a final vote will be held in late June. We had a report from the pre-vote rally.

Housing Notebook is a production of the Metropolitan Council on Housing, New York's oldest tenant union.

• Met Council hotline: 212-979-0611, M & W 1:30-8 PM, F 1:30-5 PM; metcouncilonhousing.org, thetenant.org; info@metcouncilonhousing.org; Facebook & Instagram: search for Met Council on Housing; email: housingnotebook@wbai.org – no housing problems please! X: @met_council, @wbai.org, @scottmsommer (also on threads & bluesky); wbai.org – live stream, find archive, join radio station there or go to buddy.wbai.org to become a WBAI buddy or make a one-time donation – be sure to scroll down to choose Housing Notebook as the show you want to support! Or call 833-922-4692 - leave a message with your phone number if no one picks up, and they'll call you back. Or mail a check made out to WBAI-Pacifica to WBAI Radio, 388 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn NY 11217. 

• Walk-in clinics: May 12 & 25 at CUNY in the Heights, 5030 Broadway, Manhattan - arrive by 6pm; May 19 at Trinity Commons, 76 Trinity Place, Manhattan - arrive by 6:30pm. For more information, click here. For all other Met Council events, including trainings for hotline volunteers, workshops, court outreach, and meetings about basic rights, check the calendar here. 

• For more information about Rent Guideline Board meetings, click here. Other RGB links: Notice of Public Hearings and Opportunity to Comment on Proposed Rules; summary of the proposed guidelines; submit comments as audio, video, and written testimony (beginning Thursday, May 14); submit comments to the RGB through NYC Rules. You can register to speak at a hearing online (beginning Thursday, May 1

• Heat and hot water: from 6am to 10pm, when the outside temperature is below 55 degrees the inside temperature must be 68 degrees; from 10pm to 6am, the inside temperature must be at least 62 degrees. Hot water must be 120 degrees at the tap at all times. For more information, click here.

• Current rent guidelines: for leases starting 10/1/25 in New York City: for apartments and lofts, 3 percent for a 1-year lease, 4 1/2 percent for a 2-year lease; class A & B hotels, lodging houses, rooming houses, & SROs: 0 percent - find more detailed info here. Kingston: 0 and 0; Westchester 2% for 1 year, 3% for 2 years; Rockland County 5% for 1 year, 6% for 2 years; Nassau 2% for one year, 3% for 2 years. For more information about developments in Kingston and Poughkeepsie, contact For the Many: email info@forthemany.org or call 845-481-0703.