By IMANI HALL

At the latest Rent Guidelines Board hearing, landlord Al Versace, who has owned buildings in the city for years, fears he will no longer be able to afford to maintain one of his buildings.

“Over the years, it has become harder for us to maintain our buildings due to the rise in costs,” Versace told the Board, who held its meeting at the Bronx Museum of the Arts. “We are asking the board a increase of five percent for one year lease and nine percent for a two-year lease.”

Versace was but a handful of landlords at the RGB hearing when compared to the more than 100 tenants. The Board is expected to decide whether it would raise citywide rents by zero to two percent for tenants with one-year leases. For tenants with two-year leases, the proposed rent hike will raise the rent between 0.5 and 3.5 percent. This rent increase, if implemented, will come after last years rent increase of one percent, the lowest in New York City history.

Versace’s request was met with loud boos from the large audience, made up of several members from Community Action for

Safe Apartments (CASA).

The RGB held the hearing so that tenants and landlords could give testimonials about the proposed rent hike. Among the audience was Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz, whose district covers parts of Norwood. He was the only elected official on hand to offer testimony, noting that rampant homelessness has intensified these days because “there’s less and less affordable housing in New York City” that’s due to vacancy decontrol.

Dinowitz argued that with water rates and fuel costs dropping steadily, so should rents.

Lack of affordable housing has impacted Khadijah Kahn, a recent college graduate, who spoke about her struggle of moving out on her own after completing school.

“I felt like three-fourths of my income went to rent,” Khan said at the hearing, who was briefly interrupted by loud chants of CASA members shouting, “The people united will never be defeated!”

When the chanting was over, Khan added, “Food was something that I had to cut back on because I wasn’t able to afford my rent.”

Tenants and owners stand on completely opposite sides of the issue. Despite the tenants and owners conflicting views, the RGB will have a final vote on the proposed rent hike on Wednesday, June 24, at 6 p.m.

This year’s rent hike saga comes amid the State Legislature zero-hour talks on the rent protection laws that affect Bronxites. The laws are expected to expire on June 15.