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Mayor Zohran Mamdani is gearing up to fulfill his prominent campaign pledge to “freeze the rent” by strategically appointing progressive-minded individuals to the city’s Rent Guidelines Board. This move comes after Mamdani selected five new members and reinstated a sixth, effectively ensuring that the majority of the panel’s nine members share his vision.
During an announcement held at a Harlem affordable housing complex, Mamdani expressed confidence in the newly formed board. “I trust they will consider all the factors facing our city’s rent-stabilized tenants and come to an appropriate decision,” he stated, underscoring his commitment to addressing tenant concerns.
Mamdani’s choices for the board largely reflect his ideological stance. Among his appointees are three public members: Brandon Mancilla, a self-proclaimed “disruptive” labor union leader known for his strong anti-Israel views; Lauren Melodia, an economist with a nonprofit advocacy background who has published studies opposing interest rate hikes; and Chantella Mitchell, the new board chair and former city housing official with extensive experience in affordable housing nonprofits.
Most of Mamdani’s picks appeared to fall right in his ideological wheelhouse.
Three were “public members:” Self described “disruptive” labor union leader and staunch anti-Israel activist Brandon Mancilla; nonprofit advocacy economist Lauren Melodia, who has authored studies arguing against interest rate increases; and new board chair Chantella Mitchell, a former city housing official with a history of work in affordable housing nonprofits.
Mamdani also appointed one of two landlord representatives, Maksim Wynn, also city Department of Homeless Services official who went on to manage affordable housing for a private developer.
Current tenant representative Adán Soltren, a housing attorney and lecturer, was re-appointed to his position after a history of being vocally anti-rent increase.
Made up of mayoral appointees — five public members, two tenant advocates and two landlord advocates — the board is meant to analyze data regarding both landlords and tenants in a non-partisan way.
The panel, billed as an independent body, is tasked with voting annually on whether or not to raise rent on the city’s roughly 1 million stabilized units, and Mamdani can’t follow through on his key platform without their go-ahead.
“Rent stabilized tenants deserve a rent freeze,” he said Wednesday. “And of course, I also understand that the RGB is an independent board, and they will consider all of the evidence we are working to lower costs for property owners across the city.”
Mamdani’s majority appointment on the rent board almost didn’t happen — former Mayor Eric Adams tried to appoint two people before he left office, but they withdrew from the positions. On Tuesday, board member Alex Armlovich resigned, paving the way for Mamdani’s majority, Gothamist reported.
The board under Adams increased stabilized rents by 12%, while freezes were approved three times during Mayor Bill de Blasio’s tenure.
Mamdani’s vow to freeze rents during his first term was a core campaign proposal that helped propel him into office — and the new appointments will finally determine whether he will be able to follow through on that when they next hold a vote around June.
But how independent they will be remains to be seen, considering their widespread backgrounds focusing on affordable housing initiatives and other Mamdani-aligned leftwing causes.
Mitchell, the new chair, has a long resume of poverty and affordable housing-aligned work, including a Columbia University masters in social work and a current role overseeing grantmaking at the New York Community Trust.
Mancilla lead a five-day hunger strike calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, and also once compared protesting against Israel to “opposing fascism in WWII” on X. His career seems to be much more focused on organizing activism than neutral analysis of housing-cost issues.
Soltren voted in favor of raising rent in 2023, but did so begrudgingly and has spent his time on the board being loudly opposed to rent hikes with arguments that tenants can’t afford them. He voted against a raise in 2024, and again in 2025 saying it would be “devastating for low-income and moderate-income New Yorkers, as well as predominantly black and brown New Yorkers.”
Melodia, meanwhile, co-authored a 2021 Roosevelt Institute brief that argued against interest-rate hikes in favor of worker needs, and also has a decade of experience in advocacy causes ranging from anti-prison movements to criminal justice reform.
Mamdani is also threatening to saddle New Yorkers with a staggering 9.5% property tax increase if Gov. Kathy Hochul doesn’t agree to impose a 2.2% tax on millionaires, calling it a “last resort” to balance the city’s budget.
Some critics said that raising property tax would ironically become a “de facto rent increase on renters.”
“For rent stabilized tenants who may not get the costs passed directly onto them, this is the city raiding their rent money that’s going to show up in more distress, more disrepaired housing,” Kenny Burgos, CEO of the rent-stabilized landlord group New York Apartment Association, previously told The Post.
“Increased property taxes = a rent increase,” Burgos also wrote on X.
— Additional reporting by Hannah Fierick