New York City Council Votes to End Broker Fees Squeezing Renters

While I do agree with the spirit of this, doesn't this mean that any fees that brokers require will be included in the rent?

The fee will end up somewhere.

If it's in the rent, it's better to amortize the cost of the broker fee over a year vs. pay upfront.

Between the fee + first month's rent + security deposit (+ sometimes an additional month's rent) it is common to have to front 10K - 20K just to get into an apartment here.

A landlord can't just raise the rent to make up for the loss of this one time payment unless the market will accommodate the higher rent. The idea that it must "end up somewhere" doesn't hold water since the fee offered no value to begin with.