Support bill to end Frankensteining NOW - just a few days left

The NYS Legislature will hold a special session beginning June 20th. Among bills they may discuss is the one that could END FRANKENSTEINING of rent-stabilized homes.  The bill, S2980C/A6216B, has already passed the NYS Senate.  

Let's keep these altered apartments affordable.  Tell your Assembly Member and Speaker Carl Heastie that we NEED A6216B NOW!

The bill will

• Ensure that new apartments including any rent stabilized space are entirely rent stabilized
• Set the first rent for such newly-created apartments by combining the previous legal rents.  Where a rent stabilized unit is expanded by adding common-area space (like a bit of hallway), the rent would change by the same percentage as the stabilized apartment's area is changed.  
• Include in the new base rent Individual Apartment Improvement and Rent Guidelines Board increases but NOT where the vacancies resulted from fraud or harassment. 

Any number of vacant units harming neighbors is wrong

Let the tenants who suffer next to warehoused units tell 311 how many there are.  

At the June 6, 2023 hearing on Intro. 195, HPD said there were only  2,477 rent-stabilized units “that had been vacant and off-the-market for 12 months or more, were in need of repairs, and had a low legal rent” of less than $1,000."

Landlords have said there are roughly 30,000 such units (not necessarily renting for under $1,000, and not necessarily vacant for 12 months or more). 

While the City, State and various interest groups offer cherry-picked, speculative numbers, and carve out extremely finite definitions of what might count in this category, our member organizations continue to work with tenants on the ground who suffer from hazardous living conditions caused by vacant units. Intro. 195 heard in committee addresses our direct observations of, and experiences with, many warehoused apartments. We hope that accurate data can help us assess the reality of this situation, and help tenants living in partially occupied buildings suffering from neglect, rather than be used to serve political or profit driven motives.

Photo by Bill Alatriste for the NY City Council, used with permission

What a rally! What a hearing on Intro.195!!

On June 6, 2023 the Stand for Tenant Safety/Coalition to End Apartment Warehousing joined Council Members Carlina Rivera and Gale Brewer to support Intro. 195. Under current law, if you have a serious problem stemming from a vacant apartment next door, HPD generally won't inspect that vacant unit.  Intro. 195 would require landlords to respond to HPD within a specific period of time regarding access to the vacant units.

The City's Department of Housing Preservation & Development (along with landlords) opposes the bill on the grounds that it's not needed. But they can't say how many vacant units they've inspected (if any) and the results of those inspections.  We hope the bill will pass and tenants can provide 311 with the information about which apartments are actually vacant and which pose hazards to their neighbors. 

[Photos by Bill Alatriste, NYC Council; used with permission]

Mayor Adams urges landlords rent out warehoused apts for migrants

 NY Daily News

Turn up heat on city’s landlords, Eric urged

Critics say he should pressure them to make vacant apartments available for migrants amid estimates of 90,000 warehoused units

Excerpts:

The number of so-called warehoused apartments in the city is not entirely clear, but some have estimated there are more than 90,000 of them. This has led Ayala, a Democrat who represents East Harlem and parts of the Bronx, and others to question why Adams has pursued policies like housing migrants in school gyms, while forgoing efforts — at least publicly — to use actual apartments that may be more suitable for temporary living.

....

“We are looking at everything, including the warehousing of

apartments,” he said. “This is not just the mayor’s role to navigate the city out of a crisis. They cannot be on the sidelines saying why isn’t the mayor raising this. We all have to raise these issues that impact our constituencies.”

....

Sources in the Adams administration told the Daily News they’ve reached out to landlords privately to discuss housing migrants in their properties, and a spokesman for the Real Estate Board of New York, which represents building owners, said that the board itself has recently reached out to its members to pass along the city’s interest in identifying spaces.

Noon Rally at Foley Square on June 6, 2023 - before the Council Hearing on Intro. 195

 Click here for printable versions of the flyers in English and Spanish. 

City Council Hearing on Intro. 195-A on June 6th!

Warehousing is serious! Landlords are refusing to rent out tens of thousands of empty, rent-regulated apartments.   

On Tuesday, June 6, 2023 at 1 PM, the City Council's committee on housing and buildings will hold a hearing on Intro. 195,  dealing with hazards in warehoused apartments. 

Council Members Carlina Rivera and Gale Brewer are lead sponsors of Intro. 195-A, which would allow the City's Department of Housing Preservation & Development (HPD) to inspect vacant apartments where a neighbor has complained of a serious hazard like mold or lack of heat emanating from the vacant unit. 

Come to the hearing - and to the Foley Square rally at noon just before it - to show your support for the bill. 

You can testify (or not) in person, by phone, or by zoom, or even by a written statement.   Click 'Read more' to find out how.  And click here for a flyer in English and here for a flyer in Spanish. 

 

From: Zelony, Taylor <TZelony@council.nyc.gov>

Date: Wed, May 17, 2023 at 2:51 PM

Subject: New York City Council Hearing Invitation - June 6

 

Please be advised that the New York City Council Committee on Housing and Buildings will hold a hearing on Tuesday, June 6 at 1:00 p.m. in Chambers, City Hall, New York, NY and via Zoom web-conference on the following topic: “Oversight – Vacancies and Warehousing.” Additionally, the Committee will hear the following legislation:

 

·         Int. No. 195 (Rivera), requiring registration and inspection of vacant dwelling units;

·         Int. No. 352 (Restler), requiring the registration of owners of vacant properties; and

·         Res. No. 563 (Sanchez), calling on the State to pass S.2985, in relation to affordable housing in cities having a population of one million or more

The hearing is posted online here.

 

You are hereby invited to attend and testify, either live via video conferencing, or live in person at City Hall.

 

If you are planning on testifying live in person or via video conferencing, please register in advance of the hearing at https://council.nyc.gov/testify/. Each person who intends to testify live via Zoom should register separately. If you plan to testify in person, it would be greatly appreciated if you could bring twenty (20) copies double-sided of your written testimony to the hearing.

 

Written testimony may be submitted without registration by emailing it to testimony@council.nyc.gov or via the Council’s website at https://council.nyc.gov/testify/ up to 72 hours after the close of the hearing.

 

The entrance to the hearing and restrooms at City Hall are fully accessible. For questions about accessibility or to request additional accommodations, please contact Nicole Benjamin (NBenjamin@council.nyc.gov or 212-482-5176) at least 72 hours before the hearing. All other questions about the hearing can be directed to Taylor Zelony (TZelony@council.nyc.gov).

 

Thank you,

Taylor Zelony

Legislative Counsel

Housing & Buildings Committee, New York City Council

City looks at warehousing, Mayor has proposed "Unlocking Doors"

Mayor Adams is responding to the crisis of tens of thousands of people who need apartments while tens of thousands of apartments are being warehoused.  Is subsidizing landlords who might (illegally) refuse to rent to voucher holders, and whose apartments may need updates due to negligence the way to go? 

https://citylimits.org/2023/04/19/city-will-rehab-400-chronically-vacant-rent-stabilized-apartments-to-house-homeless

City to Rehab 'Chronically Vacant' Rent-Stabilized Apartments for Tenants with Vouchers

The initiative will invest $10 million to repair up to 400 stabilized units that have sat empty, and turn them over to tenants with rental assistance vouchers—what the administration described as a “creative way” to boost the city’s affordable housing stock and increase options for voucher holders, who often facing discrimination from landlords and brokers. Read the story.