The Nassau County Rent Guidelines Board voted to allow limited increases for rent-regulated apartments on Monday, a decision met with chants of "Shame!" from watching tenants.

The board voted 5-3 to authorize Nassau landlords to raise rents by as much as 2% for one-year leases and 3% for two-year leases beginning Oct. 1, despite protests from tenants and advocates who, at recent public hearings, described tight economic conditions and buildings in states of neglect facing infestations of rats and cockroaches. In 2024, the average monthly legal rent for rent-stabilized units in Nassau County was $1,750, state data shows.

"It's a balancing act. You can't favor one side or the other. You have to look at the data, which we did, and we looked at what other boards did," board chairman Garrett Gray said after the vote at the Theodore Roosevelt Executive and Legislative Building in Mineola. A New York City board the same night voted 5-4 to raise rents on rent-stabilized apartments by 3% on one-year leases and 4.5% on two-year leases. 

Four public hearings were held in recent weeks to gather feedback from tenants and landlords. At the latest in Hempstead on June 24, nearly two dozen tenants argued against the proposed increases. No landlords spoke at the hearing, although records indicate some provided testimony at earlier meetings.

Several speakers from three Hempstead apartment addresses described ongoing complaints about their buildings, including infestations of rats, bedbugs and cockroaches, poor security, leaks and unsanitary conditions in common areas.

Residents also described a lack of accessibility for seniors and residents with disabilities, like no ramps and broken elevators, and said landlords have removed access to community rooms.

"I'm scared to death" of the rats and security gaps she's seen at her building, said Donna Gooding, a tenant in Hempstead. "You're putting rent out, but you're not getting anything back."

At the June 24 hearing, Joe Sackman, executive director of the advocacy group Long Island Progressive Coalition,  highlighted the affordability crisis facing Long Islanders and called on the Rent Guidelines Board to "recognize that the issue of affordable housing does not exist in a bubble."

"Raising anyone's rent at this time is an economic threat and will likely be destabilizing and most likely lead to evictions," he said, adding it would force people to choose between paying for housing, food and other bills.

He reiterated that opinion after the vote, and said board members "made it very clear that they understood that we're going to be seeing some very horrific economic hardships coming our way with the federal government's reconciliation bill."

More than 7,600 apartments are subject to the board's decision, according to an explanatory statement. Before the final vote, board members debated a range of rent increases, from a freeze to allowing increases as high as 4% one-year leases and 6% for two-year leases. Proponents of a freeze argued that inflationary pressures are making it harder for families to get by, while a landlord representative pointed out that landlords are also facing higher prices.

Board member Martin Melkonian argued that landlords have seen only a slight drop in net operating income this year,maintaininga "healthy profitable return roughly in line with previous history." Theadjunct associate professor of economics at Hofstra University also noted Nassau's property values rose last year.

According to data from OneKey MLS, property values in Nassau County rose 10.1% between 2023 and 2024.

"Meanwhile tenants are facing significantly higher living costs, especially for groceries and medical costs," Melkonian said, adding that many households are about to face even greater financial difficulties with the passage of the new federal budget, which would cut Medicaid and emergency food programs.

The consumer price index, a measure of inflation, increased 3.4% for the tristate area in May compared to a year earlier, Newsday has reported. The inflation rate has been high in recent years as well, hitting 7% in 2021 and 6.5% in 2022, while continuing to increase another 3.4% in 2023 and 2.9% in 2024, according to Investopedia. 

The landlord representative on the board, Barry Stein,argued that landlords are also facing inflation and are struggling with mortgage payments in the wake of higher interest rates. 

"Cash flow pays the bills, not the asset and the value of that asset," he said.

Richard Rush of property management company Rush Properties, who was in the audience of around 40 people, said after the vote that he did not believe the increase was high enough. 

"Expenses have been rising considerably over the past few years. Inflation has been higher than historical rates. That would warrant higher increases than the board's been giving and unfortunately, this year's increase falls too low," he said. 

Meanwhile, Long Beach Tenant's Association president Aimee Rychlowski said after the meeting that she was "disgusted" with the board's decision. 

"I just feel that, seeing the environment we currently have and knowing what's coming in the next couple of weeks, you're signing the death warrant of people," she said.