January 2010 ESHC Newsletter

 

 

The ESHC Newsletter is a monthly publication of the East Side Housing Coalition, a volunteer grassroots organization dedicated to protecting tenant’s rights & to providing a voice for fair housing practices in New York City’s East Side Neighborhoods.

 

Electoral Advocacy: 
What it is and why it’s so important in 2010
We were so confident at the beginning 2009 that having a Democratic majority in the NYS Senate would mean seeing the housing bills passed by the Assembly become a reality on the floor of the Senate. Sadly, that was not to be.  A critical factor in the chaos that took place in Albany was the precious but narrow majority that Democrats held—only TWO seats. Unfortunately, our legislature’s partisan process of doing business meant that each and every Democrat had to be on board in order for many bills to pass. This November, our state legislators are up for re-election, so we must act NOW to put legislators in office who will vote our way. For those who live in Manhattan, this means going outside our districts to educate others on the issues. It means making phone calls, writing letters, and actually campaigning in districts where legislators do not support the housing bills. To get involved, please email: e.sidehousingcoalition@gmail.com

 

Upcoming Housing Events:
Co-op/Condo Forum
Wednesday, February 17, 6:00 to 8:00 PM
Baruch College (CUNY) – School of Public Affairs
135 East 22nd Street (Room 301)
Senator Liz Krueger & Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh invite owners to have their questions answered on NYS & NYC laws, co-op & condo by-laws, the roles of boards, and shareholders’ rights by attorneys Lucas Ferrara of Finkelstein Newman Ferrara; Kevin McConnell of Himmelstein, McConnell, Gribben, Donoghue & Joseph; and Lisa Wallace, Assistant Attorney General, Real Estate Finance Bureau.  Reservations are not required. For information, email Alice Fisher at alicefisher.nyc@gmail.com, or call 212.490.9535.

 

ESHC Launches Co-op/Condo Owners Program
The Program will educate owners on their legal rights, teach them necessary skills to protect those rights, and help them organize in order to affect legislation.  A meeting will be held on Thursday, February 25th to select a steering committee of owners who will dedicate their time and expertise to this important initiative. If you are interested in serving on the steering committee, please email a summary of your experience and the issues you face as an owner to: e.sidehousingcoalition@gmail.com

 

Landlord Faces Lawsuit for Harassment
NY Times
State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo announced Thursday that he intends to sue a major New York landlord (Vantage Properties) that he says harassed hundreds of tenants in rent-regulated apartments in Queens and Manhattan in a systematic effort to force their departure to create vacancies for higher-paying tenants. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/nyregion/29vantage.html?ref=nyregion

 

Tishman Speyer Properties/BlackRock Realty
$5.4B NY Housing Complexes Go to Creditors
The financially troubled owners of two massive apartment complexes that sold for a record $5.4 billion a few years ago said they’re turning them over to their creditors. The ownership team led by Tishman Speyer Properties and BlackRock Realty couldn’t make a multimillion-dollar loan payment earlier this month for the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village apartments in Manhattan. http://www.dailyfinance.com/article/owners-54b-ny-housing-complexes-go-to/847370?flv=1

 

Tenants and Neighbors Help Tenants Win
Lawsuit against Rent Guideline Board
The tenant movement won a major victory when the NYS Supreme Court ruled that the NYC Rent Guidelines Board exceeded their authority when they determined that tenants who have lived in their apartments for 6 years or longer and whose rent is under $1,000 a month should pay higher rent increases than all other rent stabilized tenants. Tenants & Neighbors was a plaintiff in the lawsuits filed against the RGB in 2008 and 2009 by the Legal Aid Society and the South Brooklyn Legal Services.  http://tandn.org/

 

Metropolitan Council on Housing Phone Campaign: 
Say NO to Espada as Housing Chair in 2010!
At the urging of the Met Council, hundreds of tenants called Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson’s office to tell him that Pedro Espada must not be made chair of the Senate Housing Committee in 2010.  They asked Sampson to appoint a member who will pass rent reform legislation this year, including the repeal of vacancy decontrol.  Tenants were asked to report their results to:  active@metcouncil.net

 

2010 Tenant Priority Bills:
In January 2009, the NYS Assembly passed tenant protection bills which went to the State Senate’s Committee on Housing, Construction and Community Development, Chaired by Pedro Espada Jr. Unfortunately, the bills became captive to the Senate’s political upheaval in June, and went nowhere.  The tenant priority bills for 2010 are the same as 2009, but have been assigned new numbers.
 
A.1688  Repeals the 1971 Urstadt Law, and by doing so, would restore full home rule powers over rent and eviction laws to the New York City Council and Mayor.
 
A.860     Luxury Decontrol: Would raise rent-stabilization rent and income thresholds from $2,000 monthly rent and $175,000 AGI annual household income to $2,700 rent and $240,000 AGI annual income, above which rents are no longer rent-stabilized.
 
 A.1928  Makes rent increases for Major Capital Improvements (MCI) a temporary and separately listed surcharge, which allows landlords to re-coup the cost of a building-wide improvement over a period of 7 years.
 
A.2005    Repeals vacancy decontrol in NYC and some suburban counties which removed an estimated 300,000 apartments from rent and eviction protections and would re-regulates 90 to 95 percent of the apartments that have been vacancy decontrolled in the past 15 years.
 
We expect landlords to step up their lobbying against the tenants’ reform package.  The ESHC, in coalition with other tenant advocacy organizations, must fight to get pro-tenant legislation through the Senate.  To achieve our mission of preserving and expanding rent-regulated housing, we must build a critical mass of committed activists.  We rely on our members to form this critical mass and to help lobby in Albany, make phone calls and write letters.  To get involved, please email us at:  e.sidehousingcoalition@gmail.com

 

Tenant Resources
 
City Wide Taskforce on Housing Court:  212.962.4795.  www.cwtfhc.org
 
Department of Housing & Community Renewal (DHCR) http://www.dhcr.state.ny.us/ 
General Info:  718.739.6400
DHCR:  To find email addresses & telephone numbers: http://www.dhcr.state.ny.us/AboutUs/contact.htm#phone
 
DHCR Fact Sheets:  www.dhcr.state.ny.us/Rent/FactSheets/
 
Eviction Intervention Services:  212.308.2210
http://eisny.org/services.html
 
Housing Conservation Coordinators:   212.549.5996
www.hcc-nyc.org/legalservices/housinglinks.htm
 
Lenox Hill Neighborhood House’s Legal Advocacy and Organizing Department:  212-744-5022 ext.1392
http://www.lenoxhill.org/content/who-we-help/legal-advocacy-and-organizing.html
 
Metropolitan Council on Housing:  www.metcouncil.net
Hotline:  212-979-0611 (M, W- F, 1:30 to 5 PM)
 
Tenants Political Action Committee (PAC):  212.577.7001 http://tenantspac.org/
 
Tenants & Neighbors:  Tel:  212-608-4320 www.tenantsandneighbors.org/
 
Tenant Net:  Provides online resources:  http://tenant.net/
 
ESHC Community Outreach
The ESHC is reaching out to East Side churches, synagogues and community organizations to ask them to distribute our newsletters to their congregations or members.  We need assistance with our outreach and appreciate your help. To volunteer, please email: e.sidehousingcoalition@gmail.com

NYC/NYS HOUSING AGENCIES

DHCR- NYS Division of Housing & Community Renewal  

      The Division of Housing and Community Renewal is responsible for the supervision, maintenance and development of affordable low-and moderate income housing in New York State.  The division performs a number of activities in fulfillment of this mission, including:

• Community Development – Administration of housing development and community preservation programs, including State and Federal grants and loans to housing developers to partially finance construction or renovation of affordable housing; and
• Housing Operations – Oversite and regulation of the State’s public and publicly assisted rental housing;
• Rent Administration – Administration of the rent regulation process for more than one million rent-regulated apartments in both New York City, and those localities in the counties of Albany, Erie, Nassau, Rockland, Schenectady, Rensselaer and Westchester subject to rent laws.
• Policy Research and Development – Study the long-term housing needs of the State and help develop appropriate policies.

 

HPD – NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) is the largest municipal developer of affordable housing in the nation. Since 1987, HPD has provided over $6.3 billion to support the repair, rehabilitation and new construction of hundreds of thousands of units of housing. This administration’s housing agenda, The New Housing Marketplace: Creating Housing for the Next Generation, is the largest investment in the City’s housing stock in 20 years. It is a $7.5 billion plan to create and preserve more than 165,000 homes and apartments in neighborhoods over ten years
 
HPD protects the existing housing stock and expands housing options for New Yorkers as it strives to improve the availability, affordability, and quality of housing in New York City. HPD has made a decisive shift away from City ownership of properties and has developed innovative community revitalization initiatives that promote private investment and productive public-private partnerships. HPD works with its governmental, community, non-profit and for-profit partners to strengthen neighborhoods, increase the availability of well-maintained, affordable housing and enable more New Yorkers to become homeowners.

Today, in great part due to the work of HPD, the vacant and boarded-up buildings that were once a blight on many of the City’s neighborhoods have been transformed into safe, affordable homes for families. Once-abandoned lots now contain new townhouses, parks and open space. Communities that were devastated not long ago are now vibrant, as commercial activity has returned and public safety initiatives have encouraged parents to allow their children to play outside. HPD’s housing programs have helped to restore and rebuild housing as well as to improve the quality of life in New York City’s richly diverse communities. 

RGB – NYC Rent Guidelines Board

The NYC Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) is mandated to establish rent adjustments for the approximately one million dwelling units subject to the Rent Stabilization Law in New York City. The Board holds an annual series of public meetings and hearings to consider research from staff, and testimony from owners, tenants, advocacy groups and industry experts.

The RGB staff is responsible for providing administrative support to the Board and prepares research regarding the economic condition of the stabilized residential real estate industry including operating and maintenance costs, the cost of financing, housing supply and cost of living indices. The RGB staff engages in year-round research efforts, publishes its reports for use by the public, other governmental agencies and private organizations, and provides information to the public on housing questions. 

New York Assembly’s Attempt to Aid Housing Reform!

On Monday, February 2, 2009 the State Assembly passed a package of ten bills to enhance tenants’ rights and restore strength to our rent and eviction protections laws.

The following is an analysis of the debate and votes on these bills, in the order on which they were called up for debate:

A2002    Silver, et al.    Calendar No. 27

This bill increases civil penalties for landlords who are found to have harassed tenants, or who disobey an order of the state housing commissioner.

A465      Jeffries, et al.   Calendar No. 9

This bill restores the preferential rent rules in the NYC Rent Stabilization Law and the Emergency Tenant Protection Act to their pre-2003 status: under the bill landlords will be able to jump from the preferential rent to the legal rent upon vacancy, but not when the tenant renews her lease – the landlord would be required to apply any renewal rent adjustments to the preferential rent.

A1685    V. Lopez, et al.   Calendar No. 20

This bill addresses the ability of landlords in rent-stabilized apartments in NYC to empty entire buildings by claiming they want all the apartments for their own use, or for a family member. The bill brings NYC rent stabilization into conformance with all the other rent laws, by limiting owner use recapture to one apartment per building; requiring the landlord to demonstrate immediate and compelling need; and exempting tenants who have lived in the building for 20 years or more from owner use eviction.

A1687   V. Lopez, et al.  Calendar No. 22

The bill allows NYC and municipalities in the three suburban counties of Nassau, Rockland and Westchester to bring project-based Section 8 buildings into rent regulation coverage if the landlord opts out of Section 8.

A857   Bing, et al.   Calendar No. 41

This bill closes a loophole in the Rent Stabilization Law and the Emergency Tenant Protection Act, which allows landlords of former Mitchell-Lama buildings to seek to increased rent based on “unique or peculiar circumstances” – in this case, the U or P circumstances being leaving the Mitchell-Lama program. The Division of Housing and Community Renewal has stated as a matter of policy that leaving Mitchell-Lama is not a unique or peculiar circumstance, but landlords are still pursuing the remedy. Putting the prohibition into statute prevents any future governor from reversing the current DHCR policy. The bill, applicable only to New York City, prohibits U or P applications when Mitchell-Lama housing companies are dissolved and the apartments go under rent stabilization.

  A860     Bing, et al.    Calendar No. 42

This bill raises the rent and income thresholds for high income rent decontrol (often described incorrectly as “luxury decontrol”), from their current level of $2,000 monthly rent and $175,000 annual household income. The new thresholds would be $2,700 monthly rent, and $240,000 annual household income, and these thresholds would be indexed for inflation annually thereafter.

A1928   O’Donnell, et al.  Calendar No. 26

An oldie but goodie, this bill makes rent increases for Major Capital Improvements a temporary: the landlord can still recover the entire cost of the building-wide improvement over a period of seven years, but once the cost of the MCI is recovered the rent increases disappears. In addition the rent increase would have to be listed as a separate surcharge on the rent bill, rather than compounded with the base rent.

A1688    V. Lopez, et al.   Calendar No. 23

This bill repeals the 1971 Urstadt Law, named for Governor Nelson Rockefeller’s housing commissioner Charles J. Urstadt, which prohibits the New York City Council and Mayor from amending the city rent laws to make them more protective of tenants.

A2005   Rosenthal, et al.  Calendar no. 30

The biggie on the calendar. The bill repeals high rent vacancy decontrol in New York City and suburban counties, and re-regulates a substantial number of apartments that have been vacancy decontrolled in the last 15 years.

A1686   V. Lopez, et al.  Calendar No. 21

The final bill to come up for debate, A1686 reduces the statutory vacancy bonus from 20 percent to 10 percent, and limits its collection to once per calendar year.

The Republican arguments against this package of bills were familiar. They are the right out of the script that Republican staff members have been feeding their members for years to prepare them for debates in committee and on the floor: rent control was supposed to be a temporary, emergency measure, and the stated policy of the legislature is a transition to a free (sic) market; the answer to the housing problem in New York City is not to tighten regulation but to increase the supply, whereupon rents will come down; the rent laws primarily benefit rich people in Manhattan who do not need or deserve protection; homeowners in upstate New York are being screwed by New York City; rent control laws discourage landlords (they constantly referred to landlords as “land owners”) from improving their properties; and so forth.

To this debate they added a new twist: the article in the Sunday Real Estate section of The New York Times of the day before, about how rents are dropping in market-rate apartments in the tanking economy, as if this somehow meant that tenants in rent-protected apartments did not need protection, or that rents under rent regulation were somehow coming down, or that market-rate tenants do not need protection because of this temporary drop in asking rents for vacant apartments. Linda Rosenthal ably turned this argument back on the Republicans, pointing out that these unprotected tenants will be victimized – rent gouged – as soon as the economy recovers.

There was barely any mention of the suburban counties. No Democratic legislator from Nassau, Westchester or Rockland County spoke in favor of any of the bills, even though several of them apply to the suburbs. The Democrats who did speak uniformly described the problems addressed by the bills as affecting New York City. The only time the suburbs came up was in the debate over repeal of the Urstadt Law, when some members seemed to believe that local governments in the suburbs have home rule over rents and evictions when in fact they never have – and Ms. Calhoun is under the mistaken impression that rent regulation also exists in Suffolk County.

All the bills have been delivered to the State Senate and referred to the Committee on Housing, Construction and Community Development.

A close analysis of the vote of A2005, the most controversial bill of the package, shows that three Republican Assemblymembers voted for it, and 15 Democrats voted no.

The Republican “yes” votes were all from Nassau County: Thomas Alfano (North Valley Stream), Robert Barra (Lynbrook) and Rob Walker (Hicksville).

The Democratic “no” votes were:

Marc Alessi (Manor Park, Suffolk County), Joan Christensen (Syracuse)

Michael Cusick (Staten Island), Francine Delmonte (Lewistown, Niagara County)

Roann Destito (Rome), Ginny Fields (Oakdale, Suffolk County), Dennis Gabryszak (Depew, Erie County), Sandra Galef (Ossining, Westchester County)

David Gantt (Rochester), Timothy Gordon (Bethlehem, Albany County), Aileen Gunther (Forestburgh, Orange County), William Magee (Nelson, Madison/Oneida/Otsego Counties), William Magnarelli (Syracuse), William Parment (Ashville, Chautauqua County), Robin Schimminger (Kenmore, Erie/Niagara Counties)

Seven Assembly members were absent.

All bills and summaries, including vote tallies, can be accessed on the Assembly web site: www.assembly.state.ny.us. Type the bill number into the “Quick Bill Search” box on the home page (right below the message from the Speaker). Hit GO and you will then be taken directly to the bill summary.

Source: Adapted from a summary by Michael McKee

Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE)

Seniors living in rent-regulated apartments, Mitchell-Lama or limited dividend company buildings (such as Penn South or Amalgamated Houses), and apartments regulated by the loft board are eligible to have their rent frozen if:

• the head of household is 62 or older
• the household income is $27,000 (for the 2006 tax year IF YOU ARE APPLYING ON JULY 1, 2007 OR LATER, or $26,000 if you are applying before 7/1/07) or less (including boarders contribution to rent, not their incomes)
• the rent is 1/3 of income or an upcoming rent increase will bump the rent over that mark

The program is administered by the New York City Department for the Aging.  To apply, get the application from the Dept for the Aging by going to the agency (2 Lafayette Street in lower Manhattan), calling the city’s central information number 311; going to your local senior center or the agency’s website.  While on the website, you can also find your local senior center, use the agency’s “quick check” to find out if you are eligible for SCRIE or other benefits, and find information about other housing resources for seniors.

Disability Rent Increase Exemption (DRIE) Program: New program implemented in 2005, similar to SCRIE, in that qualified disabled persons living in certain types of rent regulated housing are exempt from paying future rent increases. Program details available in this pdf document and from the NYC Dept. of Finance website.

Source: Met Council  http://www.metcouncil.net and Rent Guidelines Board

Senior Citizens’ Special Rights

 

The law grants certain exemptions from rent increases to tenants who are senior citizens.

If a New York City tenant or tenant’s spouse is 62 years of age or over (living in a rent regulated apartment) and the combined household income is at or below a certain income level ($28,000 per year effective July 1, 2008 or $29,000 per year effective July 1, 2009) and they are paying at least 1/3 of their income toward their rent, the tenant may apply for the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE). In New York City, the Department for the Aging (DFTA) administers the SCRIE program. In the counties outside of New York City, covered by the Emergency Tenant Protection Act (ETPA), the Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) administers the SCRIE program. Outside of New York City, SCRIE is a local option, and communities have different income eligibility limits and regulations.

If a New York City tenant qualifies for this program, the tenant is exempt from future rent guidelines increases, Maximum Base Rent increases, fuel cost adjustments, MCI increases, and increases based on the owner’s economic hardship. New York City senior citizen tenants may also carry this exemption from one apartment to another upon moving, upon the proper application being made to DFTA.

Other rights for New York City senior citizens include:

1. If a building is being converted to cooperative or condominium ownership under an Eviction Plan, an “eligible senior citizen” can nevertheless refuse to purchase the apartment and remain in occupancy as a fully protected rent regulated tenant with the fight to either lease renewal or protections against eviction.
2. “Eligible senior citizens” are tenants who are primary residents in the  apartment and are at least 62 years of age or have a spouse 62 years of age or older on the date the Attorney General accepts the Eviction Plan for filing.
3. To take advantage of this benefit, an eligible senior citizen in New York City must elect, on forms provided by the Attorney General, to become a “non-purchasing” tenant within 60 days of the date that the Final Offering Plan is presented to the tenants. Outside New York City, there is no formal election requirement.
4. An owner cannot evict a tenant from rent stabilized apartments in New York City for the purpose of owner occupancy when either the tenant or the tenant’s spouse is a senior citizen, unless the owner provides an equivalent or superior apartment at the same or lower regulated rent in an area near the tenant’s present apartment.
5. For rent stabilized apartments outside New York City and rent controlled apartments statewide, an owner cannot evict a tenant, where any member of the tenant’s household is a senior citizen, on the basis of owner occupancy.
6. New York City senior citizens with a currently valid Rent Increase Exemption Order are not required to pay any portion of a fuel cost increase that would raise their total rent to over 1/3 of their household disposable income. Senior citizens who apply for and are granted a SCRIE order within 90 days after receipt of the owner’s fuel cost adjustment report, are retroactively exempt from paying any portion of the most recent fuel cost adjustments that would raise their total rent to over 1/3 of their total household disposable income.
7. A senior citizen may terminate his/her lease, without penalty, in order to move into a health care facility or senior citizen housing complex. If the senior citizen terminates the lease in order to move into a health care facility, the owner must receive at least 30 days notice, and 60 days notice to the owner is required if the tenant moves into a senior citizen housing complex

Source:

Met Council  http://www.metcouncil.net and Rent Guidelines Board

Its Time to Start Making Our Own Rules!

Home rule, or self government, is the right of a locality to make laws addressing local problems!

Background   

Prior to 1971, NYC had home rule over rent and eviction protections covering more than one million rent regulated apartments.  In 1971, NYC’s home rule was taken away by the “Urstadt law” pushed by Gov. Nelson Rockefeller (and named for his housing commissioner).  Since then, the state legislature has repeatedly weakened the rent laws, particularly in 1997 and 2003.  NYC’s affordability crisis worsens each year:  we now suffer record levels of homelessness; elderly rent controlled tenants face 7.5% increases each year; and tens of thousands of subsidized apartments are lost each year. With home rule restored, the city council could strengthen rent and eviction laws, and protect additional units such as those losing Mitchell-Lama, Section 8 or Rent Stabilization protection.

How can Home Rule be achieved and what would that accomplish?

Home rule can only be restored by the state legislature.  The New York City Council has passed, and will pass again, a Home Rule Message asking the state legislature to repeal the Urstadt Law. There are bills in the state legislature which would repeal the Urstadt law (S1673/A4069 Liz Krueger/Vito Lopez et al), but the Republican (and real estate) controlled Senate will not pass the bill. What do we need to get this bill passed? A campaign on the State Senate (see our Real Rent Reform Campaign) and pressure on Mayor Michael Bloomberg (who does not support home rule).

Will this ever happen?

Sooner than you think! While the Democratic majority in the state assembly has passed a bill to restore home rule to the city every session, the pro-landlord Republican majority has killed it in the state senate.  Things are changing in Albany, though — and 2008 might be the year that Republicans lose the Senate.  Republicans hold a narrow 3 seat majority now, but a number of them face serious challenges in the elections scheduled for November 4, 2008. While Governor Eliot Spitzer does not support home rule, he has indicated that he supports the rent laws (but not with much enthusiasm). The new Spitzer administration will have to be pushed, as well as the Democrats in the State Senate and in the Assembly.

Source: Met Housing