The Legal Aid Society condemned a decision by the New York City Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) to impose hikes on rent-stabilized apartments amidst dire post-pandemic economic conditions that have already pushed the city’s most vulnerable residents to the brink, as reported by the New York Post.

The Board’s decision to impose increases follows a campaign of organized political pressure from landlords and real estate interests to push through new hikes – no matter the effect on tenants struggling to stay in their homes.

Robert Desir, a staff attorney with The Legal Aid Society’s Civil Law Reform Unit, said the hikes will harm some of the city’s most vulnerable residents – the overwhelming majority of whom are from neighborhoods of color.

“Those in government must advance policies that protect these communities, not measures that will add further economic harm to people who are already struggling to make ends meet.”