Mayor Adams appoints four Rent Guidelines Board members as parting punch to Mamdani

Josephine Stratman, New York Daily News on Dec 18, 2025

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NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams appointed four members late Thursday to the city’s Rent Guidelines Board in a last-minute attempt to stymy Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s promise of a rent freeze for stabilized tenants.

The mayor’s move comes in his last days in office. Mamdani is set to take office Jan. 1.

“We are just as committed to a four-year rent-freeze for the more than two million rent-stabilized tenants who call this city home and deserve relief amidst this affordability crisis,” Dora Pekec, a spokesperson for Mamdani, said in response to the mayor’s move. “We will use all the tools at our disposal to deliver it and last minute appointments do not change these facts.”

Adams tapped to be appointed to the RGB Lliam Finn — a senior financial adviser with Merrill Lynch who will serve as a public representative — and Sagar Sharma, a lawyer for Legal Services NYC who will serve as a tenant rep. The mayor reappointed Arpit Gupta as a public representative and Christina Smyth as an owner representative.

“We’re using every tool in our toolbox to tackle our city’s housing crisis, and that includes appointing smart, seasoned experts to the city’s Rent Guidelines Board,” Adams, who is currently vacationing in Mexico, said of the appointments. “These respected appointees bring decades of experience in the housing sector and I am confident they will serve as responsible stewards of our city’s housing stock, using facts and data to reach the right decision for both tenants and property owners.”

Sources familiar with the matter told The New York Daily News the Real Estate Board of New York, an industry group opposed to a rent freeze, helped the Adams administration screen candidates before the mayor unveiled the appointments.

Daniel Marans, a spokesperson for Adams, denied that REBNY had any role in the vetting process. Spokespeople for REBNY did not immediately return requests for comment on the vetting process.

The new appointees, which were first reported by Gothamist/WNYC, could complicate Mamdani’s push for a rent freeze as Adams appointees will now make up a majority of the board for at least the next year.

“These new appointments threaten to lock in yet another rent increase, precisely when families across the city are struggling to make ends meet,” Legal Aid said in a statement. “This policy decision at the eleventh hour undermines the will of the people — and the ability of the next administration to act responsibly in the public interest.”

Adams has been sharply critical of Mamdani’s rent freeze promise. Under Adams, rent-stabilized tenants have seen a cumulative 12.6% raise in rent.

The board is made up of a nine members. Each year, a simple majority of the board’s members need to come to a consensus to decide what the permissible stabilized rent increases should be.

Adams previously considered Netflix reality show star Eleonora Srugo for a role on the board, she told the Daily News in October.

(Chris Sommerfeldt contributed.)