Having rent not go up while living in the same home you’ve lived in most of your life, is the very reason why rent control laws exist.
It’s pretty clear that he wasn’t living there. If he was fraudulently using a rent-controlled apartment as a pied-à-terre, then, by many people’s definition, he was stealing. From the landlord, and in a more nebulous sense from every other renter in NYC who has to pay higher market rates for an apartment.
As for your “fellow bourgeoisie” let me point out that rent control/stabilization is common in NYC (and was ubiquitous for apartments rented 50 years ago) and, for long-term landlords, it may well have been imposed on a a building that the landlord already owned.
Look, rent control is a highly debatable issue, and most New Yorkers can see both sides, but I think there’d be general agreement among renters and landlords alike that people shouldn’t be allowed to hold on to rent-controlled or rent-stabilized apartments if they aren’t actually living there.
