The Journal. · Sep 27, 2026 · recorded earlier · 23m · 13m saved
With Kenny Burgos, CEO of the New York Apartment Association
In New York City, one tenant can pay $800 for a three-bedroom apartment while a new renter looking for the same size today pays about $7,000.
The city's answer to high rents is a rent freeze that starts in October. Kenny Burgos, whose trade group represents the owners of thousands of rent-stabilized apartments, says the freeze makes the gap worse, and that the faster source of new housing is apartments already built and sitting empty.
"I can tell you right now, our property owners can bring those apartments back in months, not years."
Kenny Burgos, CEO of the New York Apartment Association and a former New York City Council staffer, debated Emily Eisner of the Fiscal Policy Institute at a live taping of The Journal. This summary covers his side of the debate.
The full episode is covered here so you can skip it. 23 minutes of audio, 10 minutes of reading.
Here are the 10 takeaways that matter.
Key Takeaways
The 2019 rent law "changed the economics" of rent-stabilized housing, Burgos said, and he answered "100%" when asked if it broke the market
Repairing a vacant rent-stabilized unit can cost $50,000 to $100,000 with no way to earn it back in rent
Banks are leaving rent-stabilized lending, and he said one bank sold its loans right after a merger
Burgos supports rent freezes that the government pays for, such as New York's 50-year-old senior and disability programs
Free-market tenants pay for frozen rents in mixed buildings, in his view
Bringing back 60,000 vacant units would beat any single year of new construction in modern history
1. Everyone Is Unhappy
Asked how landlords are doing, Burgos said the rent-stabilized housing stock is in distress.
"I would say right now we have a scenario where, especially in recent times, we have a high level of distress happening, particularly in the rent-stabilized housing stock." — Kenny Burgos
"But basically, you have a scenario where you have tenants that are unhappy about the current housing scenario and property owners that are unhappy about the current housing scenario. So that tells you everyone is unhappy. Clearly something has to be fixed here." — Kenny Burgos
