Adam Adams made a crucial personnel appointment at the last minute before leaving office, securing a majority of seats in the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB). This move is seen by many as an attempt to hinder the new mayor, Mamdani, from implementing a “rent freeze” policy.
Last month, Adams appointed four new members to the Rent Guidelines Board in one go, clearly aiming to influence the board’s future decisions on rent adjustments, especially concerning Mamdani’s campaign promise to implement a rent freeze policy for around 2 million rent-stabilized apartment tenants in the city.
However, Adams’ plan encountered a setback. According to the New York Daily News, Liam Finn, a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch originally appointed to the RGB, unexpectedly refused the appointment on the day before Adams was about to step down, causing a sudden change in the plan. The news was first revealed by the real estate media outlet The Real Deal.
Sources disclosed that Adams took immediate remedial action and appointed Christie Peale, Executive Director of the Center for NYC Neighborhoods, to replace Finn in the final hours of his term, successfully filling the seat. With this, five out of the nine members of RGB have been appointed by Adams. Mamdani may find it difficult to replace these appointees before 2027 as changing members without valid reasons is prohibited.
This personnel arrangement signifies that Mamdani may face resistance in persuading the RGB to approve a rent freeze this year. The board votes each summer on the annual rent increase for rent-stabilized apartments, requiring a simple majority to pass the decision.
Peale has not publicly stated her position on supporting a rent freeze. The organization she leads has long provided legal assistance to low- and moderate-income homeowners, aiding families facing foreclosure risks, with a focus on African-American and Latinx communities. Sources close to Mamdani express a “relatively optimistic” view towards Peale compared to Finn, citing her past efforts in promoting housing affordability.
In 2017, Peale publicly supported the housing policies of then-Mayor Bloomberg and praised the implementation of rent freezes twice during his term, while advocating for community land trusts and “permanently affordable” models to reduce the impact of market fluctuations on landlords and tenants.
Mamdani’s camp declined to comment on Peale’s appointment. However, Mamdani expressed confidence in fulfilling his campaign promises despite Adams making last-minute appointments. He emphasized the urgent need for relief for tenants, pointing out that while landlords of rent-stabilized apartments saw a 12% increase in profits over the past year, the median annual income of related tenants is only around $60,000, highlighting the necessity for breathing room.
According to a report by the left-wing media outlet Jewish Currents in December last year, even before Mamdani formally took office on January 1, Adams had already begun “pre-emptively laying out” institutional structures during the election and transition period, described as establishing an administration “anti-Mamdani,” with one of its core objectives being to weaken the ability of the young socialist mayor to promote large-scale housing reforms like “rent freezes.”
The report pointed out that Adams concentrated on replacing RGB members whose terms had already expired only after Mamdani’s victory, a move that, while legally within his authority, was seen by many as a politically motivated maneuver. If successful, the rent freeze would be postponed for at least a year. Apart from rent issues, the Adams administration, in the final moments before the election, reclassified a plot on Elizabeth Street in Manhattan originally planned for senior housing as a public park, effectively halting related development plans.