Mayor de Blasio appointed five members to the Rent Guidelines Board yesterday morning, minutes before their first meeting of the year. Sarah Willard, a project manager for the Hudson Companies development on Roosevelt Island was named an owner representative. Cecilia Joza of the Mutual Housing Association and Steven Flax of M&T Bank were named as public members. Two tenant reps were also named. The Mayor still has to fill the vacant chairman’s slot.
Meanwhile, the RGB reviewed two reports yesterday. The annual mortgage survey found that the average rate on new multifamily mortgages in 2013 rose to 4.89 percent and the rate on refis was 4.91. Vacancy and collection losses were down and loan to value ratios up very slightly. A special report on the Price Index of Operating Costs found that it seemed to overstate cost increases relative to data from Income and Expense reports, probably because the PIOC tracks the cost of a market basket of services identified in 1983 while the I and E reports reflect shifts in what owners really buy.
The battle over public campaign finance heated up with the release by NYPIRG of a list of the top 170 donors to state-level campaigns in 2013. Lots of real estate companies, persons, and associations were on the list. The Rent Stabilization Association gave $277,100 to politicians. Its largest contribution was $175,000 to the NYS Senate Republican Campaign Committee. The Real Estate Board of New York donated $244,400. Its largest contributions were $25,000 each to Andrew Cuomo 2014, Inc., and the NYS Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee.
Only in New York department: A 63 year old woman is fighting for succession rights to a $100 a month rent-controlled one-bedroom apartment in Long Island City. The State Division of Housing ruled for the landlord and the tenant was reported this week to be appealing in Court. The case goes back to 2009, when the original tenant, then 85, adopted the woman 22 days before he died.