(Long Island, NY) The Senate Democratic Conference today unveiled a legislative package to help ensure fair housing practices throughout New York State. The Senate Democratic Conference proposals include renewing and strengthening rent control legislation for another 2 years, as well as repealing initiatives that harm tenants such as vacancy decontrol and the vacancy bonus. The Senate Democrats also called for caps on rent increases allowed for individual and multi-apartment capital improvements.
“The Democratic Conference has been at the forefront of efforts to ensure all New Yorkers are able to have access to affordable housing options in the communities they call home,” Democratic Conference Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said. “New York has always been a State where people from all walks of life can set down roots and build strong, stable, and diverse communities and that fact has helped make New York into the Empire State. My Senate Democratic colleagues and I will keep up the fight to renew and strengthen rent control protections and increase affordable housing options for all New Yorkers.”
Senator Adriano Espaillat, Ranker of the Senate’s Housing Committee, said, “In the last four years 35,000 rent regulated units have become market rate apartments and thousands of families were displaced as a result. More than 200,000 units have been lost since the early 90’s. We cannot hope to end the housing crisis in New York City if we continue to lose affordable housing at this horrendous rate. I have introduced legislation (S.3364-B/ The Tenant Protection Act of 2015) which would protect tenants from unfair rent increases and ensure regulated units remain affordable. Ending session with no rent laws or the same set of weak rent laws would put hundreds of thousands of families at risk of losing their homes.”
As Ranking Member on the Senate Housing Committee, Senator Adriano Espaillat will continue to spearhead the Senate Democratic Conference’s fight for affordable housing and common sense rent control laws during the reminder of session. The centerpiece of the Democratic Conference’s legislative efforts is the “Tenant Protection Act of 2015” introduced by Senator Espaillat. This omnibus legislation would reform New York’s rent laws to expand tenant protections against dishonest landlord practices and fairly limit and stabilize rent increases in affordable housing units. The legislation would also extend the rent regulation laws and the laws regulating conversions of apartments to cooperative or condominium status applicable to New York City and upstate areas until June 15, 2017.
Also introduced in the Senate Democratic Conference housing package are bills that will:
- Repeals provisions of State and City statutes that remove apartments from rent stabilization when such apartments are vacated and could be rented for monthly rents of $2,500 or more. The bill also re-regulates at December 31, 2014 rents most apartments previously deregulated due to vacancy since 1993. (Leader Stewart-Cousins)
- Repeals provisions permitting rent increases of 20% or more on vacancy of a rent stabilized dwelling unit. (Senator Serrano)
Senator Jose Serrano said, “I am proud to stand here with my colleagues in the Democratic Conference and announce a package of bills aimed at protecting tenants in New York. The package includes my bill, S.951, which would finally repeal the often-exploited ‘statutory vacancy bonus’ and stop landlords from increasing the rental cost of a vacant affordable unit and potentially phasing that unit out of rent regulation entirely. I would like to thank my colleagues in the Democratic Conference for standing up for hard-working New Yorkers and as we fight to ensure that affordable housing remains affordable.”
- Makes consistent the rental adjustment a landlord may charge a tenant for the total cost incurred for an individual apartment improvement, reduces the increase allowed to 1/84th of the costs and requires DHCR to issue a schedule of reasonable costs for repairs, based on regional costs, so that landlords don’t fraudulently try to deregulate an apartment through improvements that may not have been made or for inflated claims of costs incurred. (Senator Squadron)
Senator Daniel Squadron said, “Strengthening rent laws for over 1 million New Yorkers is too important for political gamesmanship. For years, Senate Republicans have opposed our efforts to fix rent regulation laws, as apartments continue to be destabilized. For many members of the Majority, the main interest in rent laws is financial — but this year, the interests of communities and individuals must come before those of campaign contributors. I’m pleased that today’s package includes my bill to prevent bad landlords from fraudulently deregulating apartments (S.3285-B). I look forward to pushing these bills with Leader Stewart-Cousins, Senator Espaillat, and my colleagues to repeal vacancy decontrol, strengthen rent laws that protect tenants, and keep New York affordable.”
- Establishes a methodology for determining major capital improvements (MCI) rent surcharges and provides that such MCI shall be calculated as a rent surcharge and shall not become part of the base legal regulated rent by which rent increases are calculated, and requires the amount be separately designated and billed as such. It also prevents landlords from receiving a financial windfall from MCI funded by the New York State Energy and Development Authority (NYSERDA) (Senator Krueger)
Senator Liz Krueger said, “New York State’s rent regulation laws enable more than two million people, the vast majority of whom are moderate or low-income, to remain in safe and affordable housing. Due to vacancy decontrol and other landlord-friendly loopholes added to the laws over the last two decades, hundreds of thousands of desperately needed affordable apartments have been lost. Abuse of major capital improvement rent increases causes unjustified hardship for tenants, and the threat of losing affordable preferential rents hangs over more than a quarter of rent regulated tenants, especially those in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods in New York City. It is critical that we act now to stem the loss of affordable housing, and I am proud to stand with my Senate Democratic colleagues to strengthen the system and ensure that New York City is a place where regular working people can afford to live.”
Senator Jesse Hamilton said, “These measures steer a course out of our affordable housing crisis. Across New York State, too many tenants face the challenge of paying more than a third of their income in rent – putting a brake on our economy, crowding out other spending, and harming the quality of life of our communities. Unaffordable rents also harm businesses’ ability to attract workers to our region, entrepreneurs trying to get a new enterprise going, and young people planning to start families. The affordable housing crisis is particularly tough on Central Brooklyn, where tenants face being pushed to the margins in neighborhoods they have called home for decades and even face harassment from unscrupulous landlords trying to make a quick buck. That is why it is critical to pass the Tenant Protection Act of 2015 – bolstering the protections for affordable housing. These challenges are why I launched the ‘Know Your Rights Housing Forum’ series to educate tenants and established a Housing Advisory Committee to help connect the community to policy making. I am committed to working with my community and my colleagues to deliver the protections all New Yorkers need.”
Senator Brad Hoylman said: “I’m grateful to Democratic Conference Leader Stewart-Cousins and Senator Espaillat for their leadership on this package of bills that will help keep housing affordable for the millions of New Yorkers who live in rent regulated apartments. There is no more important issue this legislative session than renewing and strengthening the rent laws by passing this legislation. We must act now for the benefit of NYC’s next generation.”
Senator Jose Peralta said, “The clock is ticking. The rent regulation laws that protect over one million New Yorkers are set to expire in less than three weeks. We are in the midst of a housing crisis because living in New York is becoming less and less affordable. We must not just renew these protections, but strengthen them, by ending, among other things, vacancy decontrol and the ‘vacancy bonus.’ I want to thank our leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Senator Adriano Espaillat for taking the lead and introducing this housing legislative package.”
Senator Gustavo Rivera said, “Lax rent laws have reduced our City’s affordable housing stock and left too many New Yorkers struggling to afford their monthly rent and at risk of losing their homes. This year, we have a responsibility to protect the housing security of over a million families by extending and strengthening our rent-regulation laws. The fair housing package introduced today by the Senate Democratic Conference and Senator Espaillat’s omnibus housing bill will go a long way in preserving the rent stabilized units so many New Yorkers depend on. I remain committed to fighting for housing policies that not only ensure working New Yorkers are able to continue to afford to keep a roof over their heads, but also prioritize the development of more affordable housing units.”
Senator Toby Ann Stavisky said, “As a lifelong New Yorker who grew up in a rent-controlled apartment on the West Side of Manhattan, I recognize the importance of rent regulations. Today, rent-controlled apartments are the last bastions of affordable housing for our most vulnerable citizens. Thousands of working men and women, senior citizens and disabled New Yorkers living on fixed incomes depend on rent control to stay in their homes. We must extend rent control protections and reform the current system so that everyone has access to affordable housing.”
Follow on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/NYSenDems.
