The Legal Aid Society is decrying a preliminary vote by the New York City Rent Guidelines Board to raise rents for over two million vulnerable tenants living in rent-stabilized apartments across the five boroughs.

The Board voted 5 to 4 to in support of increases of between 1.75 and 4.75 percent for one-year leases and between 4.75 and 7.75 percent on two-year leases.

“The Board’s preliminary vote tonight to raise rents for an already burdened population of stabilized tenants disregards the reality that working-class New Yorkers are facing widespread financial hardship,” reads a statement from Legal Aid.

“According to the Board’s own reports, landlords are already reaping historic profits, while tenants are struggling just to make ends meet,” the statement continues. “There is no justification for a vote that further enriches landlords at the direct expense of the households the Board purports to advocate on behalf of.”

“This rent increase has the potential to drive a surge in evictions and displacement across all five boroughs, forcing New Yorkers from their homes and communities onto the streets or into the City’s already overburdened shelter system,” the statement warns.

Legal Aid is calling on the Board to vote for an outright rent freeze come the final vote in June.