Right2Remain - sign the petition

 Landlords shouldn’t be allowed to raise your rent just because they want more profit. The #Right2Remain would help tenants to fight back against landlord greed. Sign the petition to stop the rent hikes! https://right2remain.com/

Landlords create artificial shortage, then pressure state to rollback protections

 TONIGHT AT 6:30 PM on Zoom 

 

The management of 50 West 97th Street refuses to offer for rent 9 vacant rent stabilized apartments.  The management is just warehousing them. And that's just one building.

Coincidentally (?!), a group of owners of rent stabilized buildings just offered Gov. Hochul to put 20,000 such apartments back on the market IF the state would roll back some rent protections tenants won in 2019.

So landlords are creating a fake shortage of apartments, and then offering to relieve it if the state will let them double the rents every 5 years by permitting vacancy bonuses again. (In the past, landlords got a 20% increase every time a rent stabilized apartment became vacant. If tenants were harassed out by certain landlords, that could mean a new tenant every year - and that would result in a 100% rent increase without the landlord even having to slap on a coat of paint.)

Tonight the Coalition to End Apartment Warehousing is hosting a Zoom Town Hall about this issue.  Join us!

6:30 PM.  

Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83569891685

By phone: 646 558 8656 (meeting ID: 83569891685#)

State budget still under negotiation...

The April 1st budget deadline is gone, but some housing remains in the negotiations and tenants state their demands.

THE INDYPENDENT

Housing Activists Raise a Ruckus in Albany as State Budget Talks Race to a Finish

Housing activists rally inside the state capitol. Photo: Lachlan Hyatt.

Three busloads of activists and organizers from the Housing Justice for All coalition traveled to the state capitol to demand housing policies that benefit the many not the few.

EXCERPT:

Lachlan Hyatt Apr 1

Three busloads of activists and organizers traveled to Albany on Tuesday for a day of action advocating for Governor Hochul’s executive budget to include more funding for affordable housing initiatives across the state.

“Homes not jails!” chanted the dozens of activists demonstrating at the capital. “Oh the rent/ Oh the rent/ Oh the rent is too damn high!” They sang.

The activists were part of the statewide Housing Justice for All coalition and listed three concrete demands for the governor and the state legislature to enact: Pass stronger eviction protections, eliminate tax incentives for luxury real estate developers and expand rental assistance for people at risk of homelessness. 

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City&State

Affordable housing plays a big role in Hochul’s budget, along with the Legislature’s proposals. But one notable difference includes the governor’s proposed replacement to the current 421-a tax incentive for developers to build affordable housing. It’s set to expire this year, and Hochul proposed the 485-w program, which made some tweaks to the current tax break. However, lawmakers don’t want to debate the issue as part of the budget. They also have disagreement over converting commercial buildings to housing. Hochul has her own proposal, while lawmakers prefer to focus on expanding and funding the existing House Our Neighbors with Dignity Act passed last year.