Mamdani fulfills his great promise and freezes regulated rents in New York

The New York City Councilman, Zohran Mamdani, has managed to push through his first major housing measure. The Rent Guidelines Board has approved freezing rents for almost one million rent-stabilized apartments, a decision that affects around 2.4 million New Yorkers and was one of his central campaign promises.

The measure will apply to regulated one- and two-year contracts beginning between October 1, 2026, and September 30, 2027. In practice, these rents will see a 0% increase for the next fiscal year. The vote passed by 7 votes to 1, after months of public hearings and a strong tug-of-war between tenant organizations and landlord associations.

Mamdani celebrated the decision as a “historic victory” for New York tenants and argued that it “provides the relief that the city's workers deserve.” The freeze comes in one of the most expensive cities in the world, where market rents remain at record highs and the average rent for a new contract in Manhattan has exceeded $5,000 per month. Landlords, for their part, warn that the measure could complicate the maintenance of old buildings due to rising costs.

The Spanish housing mirror

The decision has landed squarely in the Spanish debate on rent. The left wing of the government looks to New York as an example amid pressure for the Executive to strengthen housing measures, with contract extensions and new limits on price increases on the table. The Minister of Social Rights, Pablo Bustinduy, has asked the PSOE to revive this path in the next legislative package.

The movement has also been celebrated by the Tenants' Union, which insists that freezing rents is possible if there is political will. In Spain, housing remains among the main concerns of citizens, with Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga, Valencia, and Palma marked by increasingly difficult prices for young families and middle incomes to afford.