New York City is home to about one million rent-stabilized apartments, roughly half of its rental housing stock. Under Mayor Zohran Mamdani's new rent freeze, landlords of these apartments will have to keep rents flat for one- and two-year leases starting in October.

The people who rent these apartments range from low-income families to wealthier residents who inherited the lease from a family member. The tenants range so widely because there are no income limits or special qualifications. Whoever is lucky enough to find one can benefit from the stability that comes with minimal annual rent increases at a time when market-rate rents are around record highs. It takes luck, connections, grit-and sometimes a broker's fee.

Fewer Gen-Z and millennial renters have been able to break into this coveted housing stock, according to an analysis by the city comptroller. Baby-boomer and Gen-X renters are loath to give up their deals. And old rent-stabilized properties are getting torn down for development projects, shrinking the pool of such apartments.

The young rent-stabilized tenants of New York City represent a rare breed of their generation. A few of them opened their apartment doors. Here's a look.

Soon after news of the rent freeze broke, Tianna St. Louis's best friend texted her, "You're so lucky." He wasn't the first to remark on St. Louis's rent-stabilized apartment with more than a tinge of envy.

The one-bedroom has enough space to store her bike and for Lottie, her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, to run around. It's also the cheapest place she has lived in her six years in the city.

The 24-year-old model got the apartment from a broker who was holding it off-market. New York City banned brokers from charging tenant fees last summer, but some get around it by showing more coveted listings privately. St. Louis shelled out for the broker's fee-she figured it would pay off given how long she plans to stay there. And when she renews her lease next year, she will get the rent freeze.

When people see her apartment, their reaction is only partly congratulatory: "The other half is like, 'I need the broker information.'"

After nine years in the city, Zach Mauer knows the mere mention of a rent-regulated unit holds a kind of power. "I've seen it turn heads in rooms," he said.

A 33-year-old manager at a media company, Mauer is getting a roughly 60% discount in one of the most sought-after coves of the city. He found his apartment through "a woman who knew a woman" whom he met on Craigslist.

Raised in Montana, Mauer sees his apartment as proof that he is making it as a New York City renter. "The brag for me is the stability of it," he said. "Stability in a crazy system like New York City-any kind of stability-that is a flex."

When Emma Handte moved into her studio apartment in Bushwick, she put bookshelves on the walls. A funky one hangs in the corner, some simpler ones float above the dark-green tufted couch. Each shelf is stocked with paperbacks like "Moby-Dick" and "The Bell Jar."

"I've never put in shelves in an apartment before because I was like, 'I'm probably gonna move out in like one or two years,'" she said. "I was moving every few years because the rent would go up in one place or whatever, but now the rent stabilization of this apartment allows me to think more long term."

Handte, 32, previously shared a four-bedroom apartment with three other people. Once she turned 30, she realized it was time to find her own place.

By a stroke of luck, Handte found her rent-stabilized apartment the day it was posted on StreetEasy. She was the first person at the open house and sent in her deposit as soon as she had seen the place to get ahead of the competition, she said.

The only downside of Evan Rugen's East Village loft is the yearslong feud with his neighbors.

After a rowdy party at Rugen's apartment, his neighbors, mostly in their 70s and 80s, left a note on his front door: "Who raised you??? You are not the only people in this building."

At the time, Rugen was in his early 20s trying to establish himself in the real-estate industry. Now 31 at the helm of a financial-services firm, Rugen is in the pool of wealthy rent-stabilized tenants that New Yorkers whisper about as urban legend.

Lower Manhattan prices have more than doubled in the 10 years that Rugen has lived there. Meanwhile, his rent is 25% higher and he says he makes 10 times more than he used to. Bad blood with the neighbors, he said, is a small price to pay for that stability.

And at times, he admits, he helped stir the drama. The weekend after that ominous door note, Rugen threw another party. This time, he left 20-some free T-shirts outside his door. They read: "Who raised you??? You are not the only people in this building."

Shedika Williams had that well-known stomach pang that New York City apartment hunters get when they stumble on a good deal: "I thought it was a little bit of a scam at first."

Williams has experienced her fair share of housing battles. She was already getting ready to take her previous landlord to court. So when she found an apartment of this size, at this price, she was skeptical.

But a large rent-stabilized one-bedroom all to herself? It would be a game changer. Williams suspended her disbelief and moved in January.

Now free of surprise rent hikes, she is breathing a sigh of relief and cleaning up her financial habits. She saves more now; she pared back on impulse shopping; most of her leftover income goes toward healthcare costs like orthodontics to help her breathe better.

"I feel more responsible because this is my apartment long-term," she said.