Hundreds of angry tenants shook noisemakers, waved signs and shouted their dismay last night as the Rent Guidelines Board approved middle-range rent increases for 1 million rent-stabilized apartments.

The vote was 5 to 4 for a 4.25% hike on one-year leases and 7.25% on two-year leases. The increases take effect Oct. 1.

Board Chairman Marvin Markus had to shout the increase proposal onto the record amid the thunderous clatter that filled the Great Hall at Cooper Union.

Although Markus called a three-hour recess in hopes of calming things down, it didn't work.

The crowd of 500 came back chanting "Home rule now" and "Shame on you," forcing cops to set up a protective wall between tenants and board members.

When it was all over, Markus said, "We had a raucous crowd, but we got our business done. Actually the process this year was fairly tame until tonight."

But neither tenants nor landlords were happy with the board's work. [NYDN]

As usual, tenants think the increase is too much, and landlords think it's not enough, but, generally speaking, a quick computation shows that the board hasn't done all that badly at simply keeping up with inflation -- using constant dollars, my own rent is currently only about 2% higher than it was 26 years ago.

There are other issues, though, as indicated by this in the Times:

The rent-increase vote comes at a time of growing concern about the ability of the middle class to afford to live in New York City. This month, researchers at New York University released a report finding that the number of apartments considered affordable to hundreds of thousands of moderate-income households, like those of starting firefighters and police officers, had plunged by nearly a fifth from 2002 to 2005.

"We are trying to let them know that we can't afford these increases," said Milagros Cruz, a teachers' aide from Washington Heights [...] "We're working hard but it's too much." [NYT]