Why we need a Rent Rollback

Did you know: The Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) is supposed to "make landlords whole" so they can operate their buildings.  The RGB is not supposed to ensure landlord profits. 

But since long before the 1990's (when detailed economic information became available), landlords have been awarded rent increases that far exceeded their expenses.  So last year, the NYC Rent Guidelines Board ordered a rent freeze for those taking 1-year lease renewals.  Even with that, RGB-ordered increases have led to a big gap between the total increases and what rents should be.  On April 21, 2016, tenant advocates testified (click on links for the testimony) for rent stabilized tenants 

• Tom Waters of the Community Service Society, 
• Barika Williams of the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development (ANHD)
• Jenny Laurie of Housing Court Answers, and 
• Tim Collins, former RGB Exec. Dir., and partner, Collins, Dobkin & Miller

and for SRO tenants: 

• Brian J. Sullivan, Senior Staff Attorney, MFY Legal Services
• Dan Evans, Tenant Organizer, Goddard-Riverside Law Project

Rent devouring 2/3 of NYers' incomes

DNAinfo:  Rent Will Devour Two-Thirds of Your Income This  

Year

MANHATTAN — New York City renters are likely to spend nearly two-thirds of their income on rent this year, according to a report released Thursday from real estate search engine StreetEasy.

Typical renters are likely to devote 65 percent of their income on rent — up from nearly 60 percent in 2015, the report found.

Click on the link for the full article. 

Rent Guidelines Board hearings - come listen to tenant advocates

Rent Guidelines Board: 

Tenant Advocate Testimony    

April 21, 2016 from 1-3 PM

David N. Dinkins Municipal Building

1 Centre Street, 9th Floor

next to the Brooklyn Bridge

Landmarks Preservation Commission, Conference Room

New York, NY 10007

Every Spring, the NYC Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) has hearings with landlord and tenant testimony to determine whether and how much to increase rent stabilized rents when leases are renewed. Last year, the RGB froze the rents for those signing a 1-year lease renewal because for the previous 40 years, landlord increases had far exceeded inflation and actual costs.  We need the RGB to freeze or even roll back the rents for 2-year lease renewals.

You can testify at future hearings and should. What can you say?  

• Your name and where you live
• How a rent increase will affect you. 

Rally before RGB meeting - Thursday, April 7 at 8:30 AM at 1 Centre St.

WE DEMAND A RENT ROLLBACK!

Tenants from across the City are coming together to make our voices heard.

Rents are too high and the Rent Guidelines Board can change that!

COME TO A RALLY AND PRESS CONFERENCE AS THE RGB HOLDS ITS FIRST MEETING THIS YEAR. 

LANDLORD GREED HAS GONE ON TOO LONG! JOIN US!

THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016

8:30 a.m.

1 Centre St., Manhattan (next to Brooklyn Bridge)

Trains: 4,5,6 to Bklyn Bridge/City Hall; J,M,Z to Chamber; R to City Hall; A,C,E,2,3 to Park Place; 1 to Chambers St.

Contact Delsenia at Tenants & Neighbors, 212-608-4320

Tom Mellins on NYC's Affordable Housing Legacy

On April 4, 2016, the Park West Village History Group and Bloomingdale Aging in Place

sponsored a talk by housing historian Tom Mellins, with additional panelists, on our city's (and particularly the Upper West Side's) affordable housing legacy.  Mellins is most recently the curator of the affordable housing exhibit at the Museum of the City of NY.  He noted that New York City has always been ahead of the rest of the country: