Alliance for Tenant Power campaigns for rent regulation changes in Albany. Image Credit: Alliance for Power.
There are 1.1 million rent regulated apartments in New York City, housing approximately 2.5 million people. Rent regulation is the largest source of affordable housing for low-and moderate- income tenants, and is mostly concentrated in rapidly gentrifying communities with a majority population of people of color. It is a resource that we are rapidly losing to deregulation.
New York City has lost more than 100,000 units of rent regulated housing over the last few decades. From the few landlords who choose to register their deregulated units, we know that New York City lost 9,499 rent-stabilized units in 2012 and 6,713 were lost due to vacancy deregulation. Losses of rent-regulated units are estimated to be hundreds of thousands. Landlord harassment of tenants continues, in their efforts to take advantage of New York State rent law loopholes, which moves units out of regulation.
The New York State laws that govern rent regulation come up for renewal in June of 2015. That will be the time to add strengthening amendments to the rent laws, beginning with the repeal of vacancy deregulation, so we can stop the loss of regulated units. The New York State Legislature goes back in to session in January and needs to take a good look at what is happening to low and moderate income tenants in this city and make the necessary changes to the laws to retain these critical affordable units of housing and stop the harassing behavior of some landlords which the current loopholes in the law incentivizes.
There are neighborhoods in New York City, in all 5 boroughs where working and middle class families have had roots for generations. These are the diverse communities that has made New York a beacon of hope for people all over the world, makes the United States of America the most diverse of all cultures. What kind of city do you want to live in?
Delsenia Glover is the Campaign Manager for the Alliance for Tenant Power.
If I had to name one thing that has made the East Village/Loisaida unaffordable and so suburbanized and less interesting in the past decade, it would be vacancy decontrol. (Lack of commercial rent controls runs a close second.)