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Speeches
FEBRUARY 13, 2003
Thank you, Chairman Lopez, for allowing me to testify today about the crisis New York City faces if Rent Control Laws are allowed to expire on June 15, 2003, while we still suffer such a dire lack of affordable housing.
We don’t have to look far to understand the need for rent regulations. Our city’s economy depends on all walks of life being able to afford to live here. Rent deregulation will drive many working and retired New Yorkers from their long time neighborhoods. Contrary to what Republican legislators would have us believe, according to a recent study most rent-regulated tenants are minorities living outside of Manhattan, and their median annual income is only $26,200.
Without rent regulation, a high apartment turnover rate would destroy the unique cultures of many of our neighborhoods. For many tenants, paying more for housing means less for other essentials. Sadly, I have heard senior citizens say their tight budgets require them to choose between paying for prescription drugs, food or rent. Without rent control, many more seniors will be forced to make these choices.
In 1997, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno “declared war on rent controls.” Luckily for all New Yorkers, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and our Democratic legislators worked into the night to negotiate a compromise.
During those 1997 negotiations, “vacancy decontrol” and “luxury decontrol” were expanded.
As a result, over the past decade, the city has lost nearly 100,000 rent-regulated apartments. At the current rate of deregulation, New York City will lose half its rent-regulated apartments in the next decade, and almost all of them within 20 years.
I have heard that in order to deregulate apartments some landlords harass tenants to give up their affordable homes. These landlords prey on the poor and senior citizens despite criminal penalties enacted in 1997 to prevent “vacancy decontrol” abuses. Some landlords have made one-time investments in renovating vacated apartments in order to reap great windfalls in increased rents. These one-time renovations can allow a landlord to raise the rent by $1,000 per month, pricing many New Yorkers out of the market.
The steady increase in decontrolled apartments accelerated as a result of the 1997 law. We can ill afford for this trend to continue. Affordable housing in New York cannot survive if the law rewards a landlord’s attempts to evade regulation.
Last week the Assembly took the first crucial step of voting to extend the current rent regulations and repealing some provisions of the 1997 law. I commend Speaker Silver and the Assembly Democrats for taking this step, and leading the way to preserve affordable housing. I strongly support the Assembly bill and urge the Senate to help New York through this housing crisis. This period of financial downturn is no time to further reduce affordable housing units in New York.
On behalf of all the New Yorkers who depend on rent control, I thank you for your efforts, and pledge to fight by your side to continue these protections.
Thank You.
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