Rent freezes, housing court dysfunction, troubled tenants and the crushing weight of the city’s local laws will do that. The rent freezeAffordable housing rents begin at 30 percent of incoming tenants’ income, then rise with Rent Guidelines Board increases. It used to be that the threat of eviction was real and being dragged into housing court was humiliating. The New York Apartment Association has proposed such a program, as has the New York Housing Conference. “The [housing court] process used to be one day, two days, three days before the judge and you’re done,” Speliotis said.