Gothamist76%
These Bronx residents face 31% rent hike, even as payments freeze on 1M stabilized units 52%
By Arun Venugopal0%
6/28/2026, 12:00:50 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 30 faulty reasoning types, including Unattributed Quote, Appeal to Authority, and Negativity Bias, with Ambiguity (Equivocation) as the most egregious example at 27.2% saturation with 249 hits. Analysis detected 2,167 faulty-reasoning hits from 914 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 51.3% and a BS Rank of 52% (10,253 of 21,180 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 51.60% of the article peer group.
Residents of a Mitchell-Lama affordable housing complex in the Bronx contend they are being blindsided by a proposed 31% rent hike over the next four years, while other residents of affordable housing in New York City stand to reap the benefits of a first-of-its-kind rent freeze.
“We're very disappointed about the whole thing,” said Jean Hill, the president of Tracey Towers Tenant Organization, whose members are set to discuss the increase in a by-invitation virtual public hearing on Monday.
Rent for residents of the 871-unit, two-tower complex at 20 and 40 West Mosholu Parkway South, would increase 15% in the first year, pending final approval in the fall.
Smaller increases would follow, amounting to more than 30% over four years, due to compounding.
Current rents range from about $1,300 to $2,000 or more.
The proposal comes as the Mamdani administration last week pushed through a two-year rent freeze across the city’s 1 million rent-stabilized properties.
But the Mitchell-Lama housing units are a different breed of government-supported affordable housing, with different regulations and different issues.
City housing officials blamed the Tracey Towers' rent increases on mounting expenses for crumbling infrastructure as well as a three-year delinquency on mortgage payments supporting the complex.
Yet tenants see the increases as just the latest insult after years of neglect.
Hill said the buildings are beset with problems, including frequent water leaks as a result of aging pipes and porous exterior brickwork that allows rain to seep in.
RY Management, which oversees the complex, did not respond to questions about the rent hike.
There were no rent increases between 2015 and 2021, according to city housing officials.
Starting in 2022, residents' rent increased in three stages: 13% in 2022, 5% in 2023 and 3% in 2024.
New York state established the Mitchell-Lama program in 1955, and provided low-interest mortgages and property tax exemptions in order to encourage the construction of affordable rentals and cooperative housing for middle-class New Yorkers.
Between the program's inception and the 1970s, more than 130,000 Mitchell-Lama rental units and coops were created across the city, according to the Office of the Mayor’s May report, “Block by Block.”
It calls the Mitchell-Lama program “a cornerstone of New York City’s affordable housing system.”
Today, the city oversees 44,000 Mitchell-Lama rental units and coops across 90 developments, according to the report.
But unlike the city’s 1 million rent-stabilized units, many Mitchell-Lama units are facing sharp increases in rents and maintenance costs, creating what some see as an odd juxtaposition – even if the two affordable housing programs are subject to different rules.
“ I think particularly for this mayor who ran on a message for affordability, he has to absolutely include the units that are under his purview, which are these Mitchell-Lama units,” said City Councilmember Eric Dinowitz, whose district includes Tracey Towers, contending the residents should also receive assistance.
City housing officials said the city is required by state law to approve a rent adjustment needed to cover a building’s costs, and that decisions made in regard to Mitchell-Lama properties follow state laws and are not connected to the Rent Guidelines Board.
Matt Rauschenbach, a spokesperson for Mamdani, said in a statement that the administration was “engaging directly with tenants” at Tracey Towers in an effort to protect some of them from rent hikes, particularly seniors and disabled tenants who qualify for local rent freeze programs such as Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption and Disability Rent Increase Exemption.
“The Mamdani administration is working every day to make New York a more affordable city, with a particular focus on tackling the affordable housing crisis and ensuring that New Yorkers are stably housed,” Rauschenbach said.
City housing officials said 37 Mitchell-Lama developments overseen by the city experienced rent increases in 2025, out of a total of 90 Mitchell-Lama developments, with more set to be hit with future increases, in part due to rising insurance and labor costs.
Andrew Stern, a spokesperson for New York City Housing Preservation and Development, said the department would spend approximately $36 million on repairs and upgrades at the Tracey Towers complex, and that approximately one-third of tenants would be exempt from rent increases, including seniors.
The complex is currently $5.5 million in arrears on its mortgage, he said.
“Mitchell-Lama homes are a critical piece of our city's affordable housing stock, and over time, many of these buildings have fallen into financial distress,” said Stern.
“The city and [Housing Preservation and Development,] are committed to supporting the fiscal stability of this development.”
Hill, the head of the tenant organization, charged that HPD had sat on $10 million secured by state legislators in 2024 for repairs, including for elevators that were chronically non-functional.
“ And they have done absolutely nothing,” Hill said.
“This has been almost two years.”
She added, “We’ve asked [HPD] all along, ‘Why didn’t you get the work started?’”
Adele Niederman, president of Cooperatives United for Mitchell-Lama, said in addition to rental complexes like Tracey Towers, many of the city’s 65,000 Mitchell-Lama co-ops are confronting rising expenses.
“Our buildings are 50, 60 years old, and these costs are big,” Niederman said.
“Their operating budgets, the budget that we need to run the co-ops, pay personnel, and heat, and energy, and insurance, all of these items have just skyrocketed that there is nothing left to cover the local law upgrades and renovations that all buildings are required to do.”
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100%flagged-word coverageEric Dinowitz
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