Rent Stabilized and market rent housing quality has been steadily improving, but public housing not so much, according to an analysis of 2017 Housing and Vacancy Survey data by the Citizens Budget Commission.
Democrat Assemblyman Brian Barnwell and Senator Michael Gianaris apparently think Rent Stabilized housing is too good and want to eliminate Major Capital Improvement Rent Increases. They’ve filed a rather confusing bill that would eliminate MCIs retroactively and give the State Division of Homes and Community Renewal discretion to grant unspecified tax credits for unspecified improvements instead.
Meanwhile, during Wednesday night’s Democratic Gubernatorial debate, Cynthia Nixon and Andrew Cuomo vied to sound more pro-tenant, with Nixon calling for universal rent control while Cuomo called for raising the high rent decontrol rent threshold and attacked NYCHA.
New requirements to distribute Fire and Emergency Preparedness Guides to tenants in New York City by October 1st have been delayed until April 30, 2019. Existing fire safety posting requirements are being changed, however, and new signs will be required as of October. Look for an email blast from CHIP with more details next week.
The new owners of a lower Manhattan building discovered that a dead rent stabilized tenant had been renewing her leases for twenty years. They are trying to evict the man who signed her name and used the apartment as an illegal office.
Mayor de Blasio announced that the City is beginning the rezoning process for development of 4.5 million square feet of commercial, academic, cultural, and institutional space on Governor’s Island. No residential use is foreseen.
Governor Cuomo has signed legislation requiring marshals to look for and provide for the safe removal of pets when performing evictions. The law stemmed from a case where a marshal apparently didn’t notice a pit bull.
It turns out that activists opposing new housing for fear of gentrification have it backwards. The more housing gets built, the fewer people are actually displaced, according to new reports.