New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has positioned himself to advance his campaign pledge to freeze rent for stabilized tenants after installing a majority of his own selections on the city’s Rent Guidelines Board.

The mayor has named five new members to the nine-person panel and renewed the term of an existing member, ensuring that most of the board now consists of his appointees.

“I trust they will consider all the factors facing our city’s rent stabilized tenants and come to an appropriate decision,” Mamdani said while announcing the move outside a Harlem affordable housing complex.

Several of the newly appointed members closely align with Mamdani’s political outlook.

Among the three newly named public members are Brandon Mancilla, a labor union leader who describes himself as “disruptive” and is known for his outspoken anti-Israel activism; Lauren Melodia, an economist affiliated with nonprofit advocacy groups who has published research opposing interest rate hikes; and Chantella Mitchell, who will serve as the board’s new chair. Mitchell previously worked in city housing roles and has an extensive background with affordable housing nonprofits.

The mayor also selected Maksim Wynn to serve as one of the two landlord representatives. Wynn currently works for the city’s Department of Homeless Services and later oversaw affordable housing operations for a private developer.

In addition, Mamdani reappointed tenant representative Adán Soltren, a housing attorney and academic who has consistently voiced opposition to rent increases.

The Rent Guidelines Board is composed entirely of mayoral appointees: five public members, two representatives for tenants, and two representing landlords. The board is tasked with reviewing economic data affecting both property owners and renters and making annual determinations on rent adjustments for roughly one million stabilized apartments across the city. Although described as independent, the panel’s decisions are crucial to the mayor’s ability to implement his housing agenda.

“Rent stabilized tenants deserve a rent freeze,” Mamdani said Wednesday. “And of course, I also understand that the RGB is an independent board, and they will consider all of the evidence we are working to lower costs for property owners across the city.”

Mamdani’s ability to secure a majority on the board nearly fell through. Former Mayor Eric Adams had attempted to fill two vacancies before leaving office, but both appointees ultimately withdrew. On Tuesday, board member Alex Armlovich stepped down, clearing the way for Mamdani’s selections to form a majority, according to Gothamist.

Under Adams, the board approved rent increases totaling 12% for stabilized units. By contrast, during the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio, rent freezes were enacted three separate times.

Freezing rent during his first term was a central plank of Mamdani’s campaign and a key factor in his electoral success. The newly reshaped board will soon determine whether that promise becomes reality when it votes on rent guidelines, expected around June.

Questions remain, however, about how independent the board will function, given that many of its members have extensive backgrounds in affordable housing advocacy and other progressive initiatives aligned with the mayor’s platform.

Mitchell, the new chair, has built a career centered on anti-poverty and affordable housing efforts. She holds a master’s degree in social work from Columbia University and currently oversees grantmaking at the New York Community Trust.

Mancilla previously organized a five-day hunger strike demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and once likened anti-Israel protests to “opposing fascism in WWII” in a post on X. His professional experience has largely involved organizing and activism rather than housing market analysis.

Soltren supported a rent increase in 2023, though he indicated strong reservations at the time. He has since remained a vocal critic of rent hikes, arguing that tenants cannot absorb additional costs. He voted against increases in both 2024 and 2025, stating that such measures would be “devastating for low-income and moderate-income New Yorkers, as well as predominantly black and brown New Yorkers.”

Melodia, for her part, co-authored a 2021 policy brief for the Roosevelt Institute opposing interest rate hikes and advocating instead for worker-centered economic policies. Her background includes roughly a decade of work on progressive causes, including criminal justice reform and anti-prison advocacy.

At the same time, Mamdani has warned that he may seek a significant 9.5% property tax increase if Gov. Kathy Hochul declines to support a proposed 2.2% tax on millionaires. He has described the property tax hike as a “last resort” to close budget gaps.

Opponents argue that raising property taxes could indirectly burden renters, even those in stabilized units, effectively functioning as what one critic called a “de facto rent increase on renters.”

“For rent stabilized tenants who may not get the costs passed directly onto them, this is the city raiding their rent money that’s going to show up in more distress, more disrepaired housing,” Kenny Burgos, CEO of the rent-stabilized landlord group New York Apartment Association, previously told The Post.

“Increased property taxes = a rent increase,” Burgos also wrote on X.