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Strengthening New York’s Tenant Protections

February 14, 2011


We are coming up on a moment of truth for New York’s tenants: the existing rent laws set to expire in June, and if we don’t take action to extend them, tenants will be left high and dry.

But the current protections are not enough. I have said many times that our rent laws are broken and our city’s affordable housing stock is in crisis. Among other steps, we need to repeal vacancy decontrol, raise the income decontrol threshold so that middle-class New Yorkers don’t lose their rent protections, reduce the increases landlords are allowed for vacant rent-stabilized apartments, strengthen our anti-harassment laws, and reform the Major Capital Improvement process to make it less burdensome for tenants.

In 2009, the Assembly passed legislation to do all these things and more. Unfortunately, these important reforms did not make it through a dysfunctional State Senate. Now, as we prepare to renew New York’s rent laws, I will fight to expand tenant protections to include these desperately-needed reforms.

Recently, I was proud to speak about my work to strengthen New York’s tenant protections at the Real Rent Reform town hall meeting. The meeting was a chance for legislators and activists to come together to talk about what must be done to better protect tenants in our city. You can see a video of my remarks below.

If you are tenant and you’re facing eviction or your landlord is harassing you or refusing to make repairs, you can sign up for my free monthly legal clinic for tenants. The clinic is held the first Monday of every month at 1233 Second Avenue (between East 64th and 65th Streets) with appointments from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The next clinic will be on Monday, March 7th. The clinic is by appointment only—please call (212) 860-4906 to schedule an appointment.

The fight for real rent reform is not easy, but I am committed to standing up for New York’s tenants.

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Written by Micah · Filed Under Albany Report, Blogroll, Community, Legislative Updates, Roosevelt Island, Upper East Side | 1 Comment