By Jonathan Allen

NEW YORK, June 26 (Reuters) - The New York City Board of Housing voted to freeze rents on nearly one million regulated apartments for up to two years, fulfilling a key campaign promise of Mayor Zahran Mamdani just months after he took office.

The vote, with seven members in favor and one against, on the city's Rental Guidance Board set the rent increase rate at zero for one-year and two-year leases starting in October.

Hundreds of tenants gathered in a museum hall in Manhattan welcomed the news and blew whistles in celebration of the vote result.

"This is a historic victory for tenants in New York City," Mamdani said in a statement. "This is the relief that workers across our city deserve."

The vote concluded an annual ritual lasting weeks to determine the rent increases landlords can impose on condominiums subject to the rent control system, which houses about a quarter of New York City's residents. The council takes into account factors including wages, inflation, maintenance costs, taxes, and landlords' income.

The average monthly rent for a regulated apartment was $1,599, according to the council's 2025 study, in a city where the average rent for a newly rented apartment is $3,950, as explained by real estate advertising agency StreetEasy.

Mamdani, a social democrat, has appointed six of the nine council members since taking office in January, choosing people he believes are sympathetic to tenants.

But hours before the vote on Thursday, councillor Christina Smith, who represented the owners, said the board was packed with members who had a specific agenda and resigned, accusing it of failing to uphold its legal duty to maintain impartiality.

Smith, who was appointed by Mamdani's predecessor, added that the result had been predetermined by the mayor.

This vote is another victory to add to Mamdani's record of successes this week, after he celebrated the victory of the three left-wing candidates he endorsed in the Democratic Party primaries for Congress.