Moreom Perven attends a public hearing as New York City's Rent Guidelines Board provisionally votes on a rent freeze, in New York City, U.S., May 7, 2026. REUTERS Who does the city Rent Guidelines Board thinks it’s fooling by pretending it’s not rushing to make good on Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s “freeze the rent” promises? Mamdani pretends that freeze for the million or so apartments covered by the state Rent Stabilization laws will enhance affordability and improve New Yorkers’ quality of life, but in fact it will hasten the deterioration of the city’s most vulnerable housing stock and push unprofitable units right off the market. In the first stage of this dance, the RGB indicated Thursday that it is “prepared” to allow rent hikes in a range from 0% to 2% for one-year renewals, and from 0% to 4% for two-year leases; it’ll be another round or three of pretend-deliberation before it does what the mayor wants.…