New Yorkers ask to make vacant units available

In response to the NY Times article on how to make New York City more affordable, some posts pointed to vacant units.

Chris in Queens, for example, wrote: 

I would also like to see some kind of residency requirement, where if you own a property and you don't either rent it out or live in it for a certain amount of time, you have to pay a stiff penalty. I don't like that people can just buy property and sit on it, driving up housing costs for everyone else.

That's followed by a long discussion - including how one might show the apartment owner is not really living there. But that question doesn't matter where landlords of large buildings with many rent-stabilized apartments are refusing to rent out those that become vacant.  We need a better law!

 

Rally to get City to implement Local Law 1!

 

Putting Local Law 1 into action - inspection of vacant apartments

With the sponsorship of Council Members Carlina Rivera and Gale Brewer, we won passage of Local Law 1 of 2024. That law requires landlords to keep vacant apartments in good repair.  It also allows neighbors to call 311 to get inspections of those apartments whose hazardous conditions affect them.  

BUT the City's Department of Housing Preservation & Development (HPD) has NOT implemented the bill yet.  Despite an 8-month delay to get funding and set things up, tenants still cannot call 311 and ask for an inspection of vacant units near them. 

So, come to a 

RALLY 

with Council Members 

on 

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10 at 10:30 AM 

at City Hall to 

Demand Local Law 1 of 2024 Go Into Effect. 

Join our Zoom: bit.ly/917KYR at 7 PM on 9/17!

 Click here to join our Town Hall on Zoom at 7 PM on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024.

Sept. 17:Tenants' Rights Teach-in!

 

Get City to inspect vacant apts with hazards! - new law in effect

You can now report maintenance code issues in VACANT APARTMENTS to the City's Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) department via 311. City officials will inspect vacant units that may pose a hazard to those in apartments nearby - hazards like

• Open windows and doors
• Leaks, defective plumbing
• Mold
• Pests
• Garbage
• Lack of smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors
• Fire hazards.

Tenants can now sue landlords to force them to open up vacant apartments for inspection for nuisance conditions.  

The owner must schedule an HPD inspection of the vacant unit within 21 days. 

Click here for a flyer to download and share!

Some good news, some bad news . . .

Tenants groups including our Coalition and Housing Justice for All have made good progress over the past year, but we have more to do to preserve existing affordable housing and keep tenants safe.

At the State level:

• 😁 Frankensteining has been halted in its tracks. Under the State housing agency's DHCR regulations adopted November 8, 2023 and a state statute signed into law in December 2023,  Read the Fact Sheet. Now; 

• Any combined or divided apartments that include space that was rent-stabilized must be entirely rent-stabilized. 

• The new rent is either 
• the combined rents of the combined apartments or 
• the last rent is increased or decreased by the same percentage as the area was increased or decreased.  

So landlords have no more incentive to "Frankenstein" apartments -- and therefore less reason to warehouse empty rent-stabilized units. 

• 😟 Individual Apartment Improvement rent increases can now be higher than allowed by the historic 2019 Housing Stability & Tenant Protection Act. This may motivate some owners to harass long-term tenants out.  Read the IAI Fact Sheet.

• 😕 Good Cause Eviction will protect some market-rate tenants (those without any rent regulation or Mitchell-Lama or NYCHA or voucher protection).  Read a Fact Sheet by Met Council on Housing. 

At the City level: 

• 😃 Inspection of vacant units - WON!  Local Law 1 of 2024 allows tenants to prompt city inspection of neighboring vacant apartments and go to court if necessary to remove hazards.  The bill was passed with the strong support of sponsors Council Members Carlina Rivera, Gale Brewer and their colleagues. 

• Relocation of displaced tenants - pending: Under Intro 607  and Intro 608. the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) would have to relocate displaced tenants locally at their request, provide relocation specialists in the tenants' preferred languages, and depending on bill negotiations, perhaps involve HPD in more 7A proceedings.   This is thanks to the hard work of Council Members Shekar Krishnan and Jennifer Gutierrez and our Coalition members. 

Help us build on our successes and join us!  For information, contact Jodie Leidecker (jodiel@coopersquare.org) of the Cooper Square Committee.