Help! Fearful of getting priced out of my neighborhood.

Hi all. I’m a born and raised NYer who has lived in 3/5 boroughs but have called Manhattan home for the last 6 years. I love it here and I truly never want to leave. I have moved 4 times in the last 6 years and it’s truly one of the most exhausting things to have to keep doing year after year. I never have any luck finding an apartment that will keep my rent the same or is rent stable. I was priced out of my last apartment and fear I will be priced out of my current apartment.

For reference we pay a net monthly rent of $3075 which is great for the neighborhood. It’s the max my partner and I are willing to spend given we’ve lived here for a while and know the market. If they raise our rent beyond $3.2K (which I feel like they might) then we are going to have to move.

A friend of mine who lives in a neighboring building with the same landlord said their rent indeed got raised … a lot. I can’t stop thinking about getting priced out and I just want to find a rent stable apartment in the neighborhood or have a lease takeover from someone who is currently paying 3K or less a month.

The advice I’m seeking however has to do with the fact that this building has had many issues the entire time we’ve been renting here. We had a squatter living in our outdoor space for days, another house less person sleeping in our lobby, and most notably a woman was assaulted in the elevator with a rock in a sock and left bloody and was robbed. Additionally we’ve been left without hot water and a working dryer for weeks at a time. I’m wondering how I can frame this to leverage our rate not increasing. I really don’t want to move and I’m feeling very lost :(