Rent Stabilization Association launches anti-rent freeze ad

City to decide on stabilized unit rent increases later this month

The RSA's Joseph Strasburg and the RGB's Kathleen Roberts
The RSA's Joseph Strasburg and the RGB's Kathleen Roberts

The Rent Stabilization Association, which represents 25,000 city landlords, is out with new ad slamming Mayor Bill de Blasio and arguing against a potential continuing rent freeze on stabilized units.

The group will run the 30-second television spot in the New York market on CBS, NBC and Fox.

The group will run the 30-second television spot in the New York market on CBS, NBC and Fox. The ad is timed to follow a June 27 vote by the city’s Rent Guidelines Board to discuss the amount by which stabilized rents will increase in the coming years, Politico reported.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

The ad makes the case against another rent freeze — the board decided last year to hold rents steady for one-year leases on stabilized units — and accuses the mayor of pandering to New Yorkers against the city’s best interests, according to Politico.

“When politics dictates affordable housing policy,” the ad’s narrator says, “here’s what you get: tenants with six-figure incomes occupy rent-stabilized apartments, poor families pay more than they can afford.”

A spokesperson for de Blasio defended his housing record.

‘Nobody has been a stronger advocate for low-income tenants than Mayor de Blasio,’ he told Politico. ‘This administration is proud to have secured the first rent freeze in history and launch the largest and most progressive affordable housing plan ever.’ [Politico]Ariel Stulberg