In light of the Rent Guidelines Board’s (RGB) preliminary meeting about lease renewal prices Tuesday evening and the prospective end to the rent regulation system on June 15, the Metropolitan Council on Housing (MCH) organized a protest urging tenants to fight for stronger rent laws.
A healthy crowd attended the protest in front of Cooper Union Tuesday afternoon, right before the RGB was meeting to vote on the prospective increases in lease renewals. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer was there to inspire tenants to organize and speak out about the rent issues that endanger their future. “The way to protect [yourselves] is to get involved politically, hold elected officials accountable [and] make rent regulation a litmus test issue,” said Stringer.
Rent laws are voted on every three years by the New York City Council and affect a specific type of tenant: those who have six or more units in each apartment, have resided in the apartment since 1971, inherited homes built before 1974 and a few others. The laws are complex and divvy up the rent changes in percentages based on the number of rooms, tenants or area. Although the RGB only deals with renewed lease increases, the nature of the increases conflicts with the overall desire to have fair housing prices for all and to give more power to the tenant.
Although rent control and stabilization ensures tenants get tenure, basic services and repairs and do not suffer steep rent increases, the law is under attack partly because it allegedly limits the profits of low-rent apartment owners. With property, water and sewage costs remaining high, the landlord is befallen with the task of affording his property with rent-stabilized rooms.
As such, Executive Vice President of the Rent Stabilization Association (RSA) Jack Freund said the rent stabilization system is “misguided.” He believes that since rent regulation does not differentiate between socio-economic levels, all people, whether rich or poor, capitalize on a system that puts unnecessary pressure on the property owner to cover increasing costs.
“You just don’t hand out subsidies willy-nilly to the wealthy as you would to the poor,” said Freund. “The system should be fazed out.”
And yet, with roughly 2.3 million New Yorkers living in 1 million regulated apartments, where will all these people go following rent increases?
“The rent hikes that would come from the expiration of rent regulations is a tenant tax that will force middle class families from their homes,” said Senate Democratic Leader John L. Sampson.
To make sure New York is affordable and remains livable for middle-class families, said Sampson, the rent stabilization laws have to be extended and even expanded.
“New York is already losing population because families cannot afford to remain here,” said Sampson. “It will only get worse without an extension and expansion of rent regulations. The clock is ticking. Now is the time to act.”
“It affects everyone,” said Anthony Feliciano, a founding member of Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES), an organization that provides assistance to low-income families facing gentrification. Feliciano believes the “runaway rent increases that are illegal” have to be tied to overall reform. “We have to get real affordable housing…’affordable’ doesn’t mean anything anymore,” he said.
Currently, a one-year lease rises at 2.25 percent and 4.5 percent for a two-year lease. Deaf to the loud pleas to keep the percentages low by the protestors who attended the preliminary meeting, the RGB still voted 5-4 for a possible 3 percent to 5.75 percent increase for one-year leases and between 6 percent to a 9 percent for two-year leases. They also added a temporary 1 percent fuel and heating surcharge.
There will be public hearings held by the RGB in June before the final vote on June 27, which will determine the final renewal lease adjustments.