Whom You Know: An Update from Christine C. Quinn Speaker NYC Council: Fighting to Renew and Strengthen New York's Rent Laws

Thursday, June 16, 2011

An Update from Christine C. Quinn Speaker NYC Council: Fighting to Renew and Strengthen New York's Rent Laws

This past month a delegation of Council Members traveled to Albany to urge the State Legislature to renew and strengthen New York's rent laws.

During our meetings with state legislators, we discussed how important it is to renew these critical protections before they vanish forever on June 15th. We also spoke about a number of key enhancements that are needed to help keep our communities affordable and stable.

Shortly afterwards, we passed Resolution No. 700, calling on the State Legislature to renew and strengthen the laws protecting tenants who reside in regulated housing.

Because while renewing our rent laws is critical, it is not enough.

If New York is to remain a livable place, we must strengthen these laws as well by repealing vacancy decontrol and extending protections to buildings leaving the Section 8 and Mitchell Lama programs. The vacancy bonus should also be eliminated or, at the very least, be reduced from 20% to 10%, and the Rent Guidelines Board shouldn't have the authority to adjust the vacancy bonus level as part of their annual rent adjustment determinations.

With our rent laws on the verge of expiring in less than two days, it's more important than ever to keep up the pressure.

To learn more about what you can do to help ensure that these laws are renewed and strengthened before the June 15th deadline, please email realrentreform@gmail.com or call 347-541-3339.

Upcoming Rent Guidelines Board Hearings

The NYC Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) has proposed renewal lease guidelines for rent-stabilized apartments that would increase rent from 3 to 5.75% for a 1-year lease, 6 to 9% for a 2-year lease, and add a 1% surcharge for buildings with oil heat.

The RGB will be holding public meetings on these proposed guidelines in the upcoming days. At these meetings, the public will have the opportunity to share their concerns about the proposed hikes. Details are listed below:

Thursday, June 16th

Public Hearing (Public Testimony)

Location: NYC College of Technology, Kiltgord Auditorium, 285 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Time: 4:30 p.m.

Monday, June 20th

Public Hearing (Public Testimony)

The Great Hall at Cooper Union, 7 East 7th Street at the corner of Third Ave., (lower-level), New York, NY 10003

Time: 10:00 a.m.

Monday, June 27th

Public Meeting (Final Vote on Rent Guidelines)

The Great Hall at Cooper Union, 7 East 7th Street at the corner of Third Ave., (lower-level), New York, NY 10003

Time: 5:30 p.m.

As noted, two hearing dates are reserved for public testimony. For additional information, please log on to http://www.housingnyc.com/html/about/meetings.html.

We will continue to keep you updated on our fight to protect tenants and alert you to any additional actionsyou can take to help support these critical efforts.

In the meantime, if you have any tenant-related questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Carlos Carino in the Council's Community Outreach Unit at (212) 788-9121 or ccarino@council.nyc.gov.

Sincerely,

Christine C. Quinn

Speaker

NYC Council

Erik Martin Dilan

Chair, Housing & Buildings Committee

NYC Council

Helen Diane Foster

Chair, State & Federal Legislation Committee

NYC Council

Margaret Chin

Council Member & Lead Sponsor of Resolution No. 700

NYC Council

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