City to promote stabilized rent freeze with $1M campaign

Rents on stabilized units are staying put this year, and the city wants to shout it from the rooftops, no matter what landlords think.

The de Blasio administration is planning a $1 million advertising campaign to promote the Rent Guidelines Board’s June decision to freeze rents for rent-regulated tenants throughout the city this year. The city will pay for ads on the subway, on newspapers, on the radio and online.DCF Advertising, the company that promotes the city’s anti-smoking and flu shot campaigns, among others, will handle this as well, the New York Times reported.

The rent freeze decision is unprecedented in the Rent Guidelines Board’s history. It also voted, at the same meeting, to allow increases of 2 percent on two-year leases.

The campaign was announced on the eve of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s first town hall-style meeting, in Washington Heights, where he plans to focus on “rent security and tenant protection,” according to a spokesperson for the city. [NYT] – Ariel Stulberg