Forget NYC and S.F.—the Rent Is Too Damn High Everywhere

Families, minorities pushed out by waves of tenants who can pay more.

June 25, 2014 By Solvej Schou

For renters’ rights advocate Jean Folkes, the fight to maintain stabilized rents in increasingly pricey New York City—where rents average a massive $3,000 a month—is not only political but personal.

The Brooklyn tenant has spent months passionately calling for the New York City Rent Guidelines Board to impose a first-ever rent freeze, backed by newly elected Mayor Bill de Blasio, for one- and two-year leases for the city’s 1 million regulated apartments. The board’s 5–4 vote on Monday shot down a rent freeze but allowed a historically low 1 percent increase on regulated one-year leases and a 2.75 percent increase on two-year leases.

That’s not enough, Folkes said. …MORE

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