By Madina Toure
Mayor Bill de Blasio is calling for stronger rent laws to mitigate the loss of affordable housing due to deregulation.
The proposed reforms are the elimination of vacancy decontrol, which allows apartments to move toward market levels when vacated; removal of the vacancy allowance, which allows rents to be raised 20 percent when tenants leave an apartment; and make annual increases imposed by the Rent Guidelines Board temporary rather than permanent.
Rent laws are up for renewal June 15. More than 35,000 affordable apartments have left rent regulation since it was last extended in 2011, de Blasio said.
“Rent is the No. 1 expense for New Yorkers,” he said. “Unless we change the status quo, tens of thousands of hardworking families will be pushed out of their homes.”
The city’s rent-stabilized apartments provide affordable homes for more than 1.4 million low-income tenants and more than 700,000 moderate- and middle-income residents.
The reforms intend to address the deregulation of vacant apartments with a $2,500 monthly rent and landlords who use the vacancy allowance to force tenants out of their homes so they can increase rents.
Costs from increased services or improvements to individual apartments would be spread out over 10 years. Building-wide or system improvements would be spread out over seven years. Long-term rent would be untouched and reset after the fixed period.
De Blasio also announced free legal representation for rent-stabilized tenants in up to 15 neighborhoods and the launching of a Tenant Harassment Prevention Task Force with state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
State Sen. James Sanders (D-South Ozone Park) expressed support for the reforms.
“Rent regulations protect tenants from excessive rent increases and harassment by landlords, while still allowing property owners a reasonable return on their investments,” Sanders said.
At the end of March, de Blasio appointed or reappointed all nine members of the Rent Guidelines Board, which decides on annual rent adjustments for about 1 million apartments throughout the city that are subject to the rent stabilization law.
De Blasio advocated for a rent freeze during his election campaign but has not spoken publicly on the issue.
In 2013, the average monthly rent in rent-stabilized buildings in Queens was $1,123, according to the Rent Guidelines Board’s 2015 Income Study released earlier this month. There are about 140,000 rent-stabilized apartments in Queens.
Reach reporter Madina Toure by e-mail at mtour
