Hundreds of tenant activists gathered in Foley Square Downtown last Thursday to call for strengthening the rent laws that affect 1 million rent-regulated tenants in the city. Following the rally, they all marched across the Brooklyn Bridge. Last year, Mayor Bill de Blasio called for a rent freeze, but the Rent Guidelines Board voted for increases of 1 percent on one-year lease renewals and 2.75 percent for two-year lease renewals. Although hopes for a rent rollback (as in, an actual rent decrease) for rent-regulated tenants have faded, advocates are again calling for a rent freeze when the R.G.B. makes its final vote next month.
