Exclusive | Winners and losers of Mamdanis disastrous rent freeze and theyre not who you think

It’s a tale of two rental classes.On the one hand you have the 1 million-plus New Yorkers in rent-stabilized apartments, who thanks to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s highly controversial rent freeze, will pay the same low rates for the next two years.On the other, there are 1 million apartments that remain at market rates — with rents rising to their highest levels in history (the average monthly rent is a whopping $4,180) and squeeze hard-working New Yorkers, whose salary increases haven’t kept up with the staggering rent increases.Median gross rent in New York City rose about 13.5% after adjusting for inflation over the decade ending in 2024, according to the NYU Furman Center, compared to the 3.2% average inflation rate in the period.Mamdani’s policy, ironically for a Democrat Socialist, has created the kind of glaring two-tier social system he and his cronies rail against.But the winners and losers in Mamdani’s New York aren’t necessarily who you think.Yes, there are the stabilized tenants who are delighted to have more money in their pockets.

But there are just as many with frozen rent who are panicking about the decline of their buildings.And then, of course, there are the landlords themselves who are facing bankruptcy and the market-rate tenants who are being squeezed with rent rises they can barely afford.Even President Donald Trump weighed in: “What the mayor doesn’t say is that these buildings will soon turn into ghettos and slums, and that everybody will continue leaving New York.”Here, The Post spoke to tenants and landlords on both sides of the rent-freeze divide — and the losers are stacked high.

An Upper West Side tenant, who spoke to The Post on condition of anonymity, suspects he has already been penalized because of the freeze. The PR consultant lives with two roommates in about 1,000 square feet for a total monthly rent of $5,500.The landlord recently informed them that the trio’s rent is going to increase by 6%, far more than...