Phillip Pantuso reports in the Times Union that Kingston's Rent Guidelines Board voted 5-to-3 June 21 to freeze rents for one- and two-year leases at rent-controlled apartments beginning Oct. 1, 2023. Many speakers at a June 17 public hearing had urged the board to freeze rents, but the decision is unprecedented among upstate municipalities. The rent freeze only applies to properties subject to the Emergency Tenant Protection Act, which covers 64 buildings with approximately 1,200 rental units in Kingston. The city has seen the average rent doubled since 2015 and home values have increased 50 percent since 2020. It is part of the affordable housing crisis cited by Gov. Kathy Hochul and others. Kingston adopted the Emergency Tenant Protection Act last summer, and has declared a housing emergency. Aaron Narraph Fernando, a spokesperson for the advocate group For the Many, said, “Keeping rents frozen will continue to provide rent-stabilized Kingston tenants with the relief they desperately need.... Kingston does not exist in a vacuum, and the rest of New York state is taking notice.” Read more about this story in the Times Union.