Governor Cuomo’s “100 Day” goals, announced Monday, include “ending vacancy decontrol, repealing preferential rent and limiting capital improvement charges.”
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. is also targetingpreferential rents, but wants to offset the loss with a tax break equal to the difference between preferential and legal. That might cost taxpayers more than tenants save, but rent regulation is complicated.
In this week’s episode of As NYCHA Turns, outgoing Public Advocate (and incoming Attorney General) Letitia James just discovered that the City is the City’s worst landlord; and HUD Secretary Ben Carson is reluctantly threatening to put New York public housing into receivership.
Meanwhile, as the City Council looks at redundant legislation to punish private owners for harassing tenants to vacate, the de Blasio administration is apparently harassing tenants to vacate an SRO building to make room for other homeless.
They know when you’ve been naughty, and now the City Department of Buildings knows which buildings applying for permits have rent regulated tenants. They have the State registration databaseincorporated with theirs.
The City Department of Housing Preservation and Development reports that it has raised $7.5 million and designated several non-profits to assist with low interest loans for down payments on low rent buildings. It’s called the Neighborhood Pillars program. Borrowing money for down payments on marginal properties…what could go wrong?
In case you missed it, check out the arguments for responsible ownership and responsible legislation by CHIP’s new Executive Director Jay Martin and Board Member Barbara Kraebel in the Daily News this week.