Wednesday, December 26, 2018

McKee's Media, Dec. 26, 2018

ARTICLES OF INTEREST TO TENANT ADVOCATES:

This is the final "Articles of Interest" for 2018. Happy New Year to all, and here's to a string of tenant victories in 2019! Best. Michael McKee

HPD ENFORCEMENT (OR NOT)

New York Times: Leaks, mold & rats: HPD goes easy on worst landlords, subjecting tenants to intolerable conditions

CITY ADMINISTRATION AND POPULATION

David Goodman: Deputy Mayor for Housing Alicia Glen to leave de Blasio administration (New York Times)

The Real Deal: City launches $7.5 million fund to help non-profits buy rent-stabilized buildings at risk of acquisition by predatory landlords

VIDEO of Dec. 19 de Blasio Town Hall at Hunter College

(Questions on rent laws at 34:35 & 1:36:44)

Landlords say "responsible" landlords should not be demonized because of "a few bad actors" (Daily News OpEd)

Journal News: New York population declining faster than any other state; 1 million have left since 2010

New York Post: New York City losing middle class residents at alarming rate

RACISM ALIVE AND WELL IN NYC HOUSING

WNBC-TV: White man harasses black neighbor in UES building: "You don't live here" (VIDEO)

New York Times: State & city legislators to introduce legislation to bar secret development deals like Amazon

RENT AND THE TRUMPS (AND OTHER MILLIONAIRES)

New York Times: A Queens podiatrist who rented from Fred Trump is said to have provided convenient 1968 "bone spurs" diagnosis that helped Donald Trump avoid being sent to Vietna

The Real Deal: A Russian oligarch's guide: How to hide $20 million in a NYC skyscraper

Washington Post: Evictions and code violations increase as private equity firm becomes big landlord in Memphis, Tennessee

ALBANY EXPECTATIONS AND ETHICS

New York Times: Democratic legislators ready to challenge Gov. Cuomo, push progressive agenda despite his opposition

Zach Williams: What Cuomo left out of his "FDR" speech, including expanded rent protections (City & State

2019 Platform for Universal Rent Regulation

Housing Justice for All's

2019 Platform for Universal
Rent Control

Published Dec. 2018

The Upstate-Downstate Housing Alliance
is fighting for greater tenant protections for
all New York residents. We believe that
housing is a human right; that all people

should live without the fear of eviction;
and that strengthening renters’ rights is
critical to strong neighborhoods, education
and health, and economic stability for all
New Yorkers.

For more than 70 years, New Yorkers
across the state have benefited from
various forms of rent control, which protects
tenants from unjust evictions and arbitrary
rent increases. Now, however, that system
has been eroded so much that it only applies
to tenants in eight counties. It has been

weakened with loopholes that encourage
tenant harassment and allow sudden and
permanent rent hikes. Since 1994, we
have lost nearly 300,000 units of affordable,
rent-stabilized housing. Five million renters in
New York State have no protections whatsoever.

Every tenant in New York, no matter
where they live, deserves the same basic
protections.

In 2019, New York State’s renter protection
framework — commonly known as rent
stabilization — will expire. Our Housing Justice
for All campaign is fighting for a legislative
agenda that would stabilize neighborhoods
and eliminate the control that corporate
landlords have over housing in New York
State.

Our priorities would:

McKees' Media - Dec. 17, 2018

MCI Loophole made Trumps rich

New York Times: As Trump & his siblings dodged taxes, up to 8,000 of their tenants paid the price with inflated rent hikes for building-wide improvements; tenants weigh lawsuit to get rollbacks

What we can expect from Albany

Joe Anuta: Cuomo says he wants to end vacancy decontrol (Crain's)

City & State: Setting the agenda: what Democrats might do in legislative session on rent & other issues

HUD and NYCHA

Sally Goldenberg: HUD Secretary Ben Carson threatens to exercise control over NYCHA if suitable plan is not in place by January 31(Politico NY)

City Council protections for tenants and rezoning

New York Times editorial: While Albany must close loopholes in rent laws, City Council can enact package of bills to curb landlord harassment of tenants

Joe Anuta: City Council committees consider garment center rezoning, restrictions on hotel construction, and 18 bills to strengthen anti-harassment tools (Crain's)

Joe Anuta: Dept. of Buildings integrating DHCR rent registration database into its information systems, as check against false certifications by landlords that there are no rent-regulated tenants in occupancy (Crain's)

Joe Anuta: What took the City so long to close the Kushner loophole? (Crain's)

Courthouse News: Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer & City Council sue to halt development of massive skyscrapers in Two Bridges neighborhood, say process was improper

Kushner building: toxic lead contamination

Patch: Jared Kushner LES building contaminated with toxic lead dust

Mike McKee

http://www.tenantspac.org/

Tenants' PAC · United States

Friday, December 14, 2018

McKee's Media - Dec. 14, 2018

ARTICLES OF INTEREST
TO TENANT ADVOCATES (Excerpted)

State legislators pledge real rent reform
is top priority

Noah Manskar: At City Hall rally, state legislators
vow to make real rent reform top priority for 2019
legislative session (Patch)

Kings County Politics: Albany legislators commit to
universal rentcontrol platform at City Hall rally

Nick Reisman: Tenant groups & others call on Gov.
Cuomo & state legislators to reject landlord campaign
contributions, pass
campaign finance reforms (NY State of Politics)

The Villager: Stringer, Hoylman hold Town Hall on
future of rent regulations

Croman Tenants get compensation

1010 WINS: A.G. Barbara Underwood says checks
of $2,425 each are being mailed to 800 tenants who
were harassed by Steve Croman

And from IMPACCT: Recommended reading:

The New York Times: Bad Landlord? These Coders Are Here To Help
Our Time Press: BP Adams, Cornegy Call on Feds to Investigate City's TPT Program
Curbed NY: Co-Op City at 50
CityLab: New York's Small Businesses See a Glimmer of Hope Against Rising Rents
City & State: Which NYC Districts Have the Most Rent-Regulated or Public Housing?
The Conversation: Domicology: A New Way to Fight Blight Before Buildings Are Even Constructed

McKee's Media - Dec. 3, 2018

Tenants' Rights & Advocacy in a Critical Year

New York State's rent laws are expiring in June 2019. State Senator Liz Krueger is hosting an event to help New Yorkers learn about their rights and join the fight to strengthen the laws. The event will start with a discussion on rent law renewal with Mike McKee of TenantsPAC and Delsenia Glover of Tenants & Neighbors, followed by four workshops facilitated by tenant lawyers: Basics of Rent Regulation, If Your Landlord Wants You Out, How To Get Repairs & Improve Building Conditions, and Housing Resources for Older Adults & People with Disabilities.

The event will take place on Wednesday, December 5th, from 6pm to 8:30pm at CUNY Graduate Center, Proshansky Auditorium, 365 Fifth Avenue between 34th and 35th Streets.

Please RSVP Here or by calling (212) 490-9535

City Council proposing 18 bills to crack down on landlords

NY TIMES: 18 Bills with One Goal: Cracking Down on Predatory Landlords

By Grace Ashford and Kim Barker

Nov. 28, 2018

EXCERPT:

The City Council speaker is introducing a raft of bills on Wednesday aimed at stopping landlords from harassing rent-regulated tenants to force them out of their apartments.

The speaker, Corey Johnson, said the package of 18 bills is intended to close loopholes and address abusive practices identified in The New York Times’s recent series, “Unsheltered,” which showed how some large landlords exploit New York’s fragmented regulatory system to push apartments out of regulation.

3 OpEds: We need stronger rent protection, and here's how to win them

Judi Kende, Jolie Milstein, Judith Goldiner: Developers & tenant advocates demand three rent reforms: End Vacancy Decontrol, restore preferential rent protections, & curb vacancy & capital improvement rent hikes (Daily News Op-Ed)

Pete Harrison: What the New York fight for universal rent control can learn from Prop 10's defeat in California (Shelterforce)

Michael McKee: It is time for real rent-regulation reform across New York State (City Limits OpEd)

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

What NY can learn from California's Prop 10 defeat

What the Fight for Universal Rent Control in New York Can Learn from Prop 10’s Defeat in California - Shelterforce

By PETE HARRISON, November 24, 2018

Sunday, November 25, 2018

McKee's Media, Nov. 23, 2018

NYCHA LEAD PAINT

New York Times: Kids poisoned because NYCHA's response to Dept. of Health lead inspections was to challenge the reports, not correct the condition

Daily News: De Blasio claims he was unaware that NYCHA had challenged DOH lead paint inspection results, which The News exposed in 2015

NYCHA CONTROL

New York Post: City to place 62,000 public housing apartments under private management

Sally Goldenberg: De Blasio plans to expand private development on NYCHA land (Politico NY)

Greg Smith: De Blasio opposes federal receivership for NYCHA (Daily News)

Sarah Jones: Under a different president, federal receivership for NYC public housing might make sense, but not with Trump & Ben Carson (New York Magazine)

Daily News: NYCHA tenants on LES without heat or hot water since last week's snowstorm

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-metro-nycha-heat-20181120-story.html

ALBANY

Carl Campanile: Cuomo says he will sign bill to repeal Vacancy Decontrol, but one of his lieutenants talks about raising threshold (New York Post)

Vivian Wang: New York Democrats vowed to get big money out of elections. Will they deliver now that they are in control of state government? (New York Times)

Casey Seiler: Last days for the LLC loophole? (Albany Times Union OpEd)

AMAZON DEAL

David Goodman: Instead of victory lap, Cuomo & de Blasio reel from backlash over Amazon deal (New York Times)

Jarrett Murphy: The scam at the heart of New York's Amazon deal (The Nation) (MUST READING)

Rex Smith: Amazon deal another example of government using tax subsidies to take care of the political donor class (Albany Times Union OpEd)

Dana Rubenstein: Ocasio-Cortez takes on the Amazon deal (Politico NY)

Carl Campanile: State legislature might have leverage to throw a wrench into Amazon deal (New York Post)

Daily Mail: Two Amazon execs snapped up LIC condos days before Amazon announcement sent real estate prices soaring

Daily News: State senator Jose Peralta dies suddenly at age 47

Shelterforce: The two vacancy crises in American cities

Shelterforce: A community-centered perspective on displacement

Mike McKee

http://www.tenantspac.org/

Tenants' PAC · United States

McKee's Media, Nov. 16. 2018

ALBANY TENANT PROTECTION

Rachel Silberstein: Tenant advocates push for statewide rent protection laws (Albany Times Union)

Ken Lovett: Landlord lobby group RSA blasts affordable housing developers for supporting stronger rent protection laws (Daily News)

Gothamist: Tenants hit the snowy streets for stronger rent laws (PHOTO ESSAY)

Democracy Now: Tenants march through snow for universal rent control

NYCHA

New York Times: Federal judge rejects deal for NYCHA monitor, suggests HUD take over as receiver

Greg Smith: Federal judge shoots down NYCHA outside monitor, finds deal too vague to trigger actual reform (Daily News)

INWOOD DEVELOPMENT

Patch: Brooklyn developer buys Inwood site for $55 million, plans 272-unit apartment building

AMAZON DEAL:

New York Times editorial: Cuomo's Amazon deal is a bad bargain for New York
Politico NY: Amazon deal will cost NYC 1,500 units of affordable housing

Zach Williams: Community Service Society offers new online tool showing where different kinds of housing are located throughout NYC (City & State)

Roshan Abraham: New York's rent laws poised for major reforms after Democratic wins in state senate (Curbed NY)

Jeff Coltin: Real estate lobby fears the worst as Democrats make stronger rent laws a top priority (City & State)

Jillian Jorgensen: NYC elected officials have rent reform & election reform at top of Albany to-do list (Daily News)

New York Times: Democrats finally control power in Albany. What will they do with it?

Dems win control of NYS Senate!!

The Democrats have won control over NY State's Senate. That gives Democrats control over the Assembly, the Senate, and the Governor's mansion. Now it's time to see whether they will enact the bills they have safely endorsed over the years (knowing they wouldn't be passed).

NYC's rent laws poised for major reform after Democratic wins in state Senate

Curbed NY - Tenants in Janel Towers, a former Mitchell-Lama, are pleased.

New York City elected officials have rent regulations and election reform at top of wish list for new State Senate, NY Daily News

Friday, November 2, 2018

Why rent regulation is fundamentally fair

Ben Dulchin: Rent regulation is fundamentally fair: Don't swallow the line that some tenants lose because others win (Daily News OpEd)

McKee's Media, Oct 23, 2018 excerpted

NYC

Eliza Shapiro: 114,659 NYC public school students are homeless (New York Times)

Daily News editorial: Unfair real property tax system hurts New Yorkers who rent

Jim Brennan: NYC's residents & economy generate increasingly large share of state revenues (Gotham Gazette OpEd) (MUST READING)

New York Times interactive: How a garden for the poor became a playground for the rich

Queens Gazette: Scott Stringer holds Long Island City town hall, calls for new Mitchell-Lama program

WINS Radio: Brooklyn tenants protest poor conditions & harassment (VIDEO)

New York Post: De Blasio opposes City Council bill to give lease renewal protections to small businesses

Samar Khurshid: Gale Brewer forming group to oppose charter commission proposals, including term limits for community board members

RENT REGULATION - NYC AND NATIONALLY

McKee's Media - Sept. 30, 2018

ARTICLES OF INTEREST TO TENANT ADVOCATES

(excerpted)

Daily News editorial: The road to tenant hell: City needs to enforce laws preventing landlords from using construction to force rent-protected tenants to vacate

New York Times: U.S. housing market slows as rising prices outpace wages

The Intercept: U.S. Sen. Elizabeth introduces bill to build 3.2 million apartments affordable to low & middle-income families & dismantle racist zoning practices

Ken Lovett: Harlem building (Lakeview) on Central Park leaving Mitchell-Lama program; deal for Section 8 subsidy will protect tenants for 40 years (Daily News)

Tenant/Inquilino: Ossining opts into Emergency Tenant Protection Act, first major expansion of rent stabilization in suburbs since 1981

Patch: Stringer admits that a math mistake in report caused inflation of loss of low-rent apartments

Ask Sam: My rent-stabilized building is being sold. How do I protect myself from being pushed out? (Brick Underground)

Tenant/Inquilino: Chinatown tenants return home after seven months

WNYC: De Blasio administration finances DUMBO project that will provide 300 units of supportive housing

Patch: City Council passes Central Harlem Historic District designation

Crain's: De Blasio supports some parts of 25-bill City Council package to fight childhood lead poisoning, landlord group RSA says they are unnecessary

Daily News: Corey Johnson blasts NYCHA, HPD & Health Dept. over childhood lead poisoning failures

NY Times Calls for Stronger Rent Laws and other articles - Sept. 12, 2018

ARTICLES OF INTEREST TO TENANT ADVOCATES:

New York Times editorial calls for stronger rent protection laws: Voters should flip state senate to Democratic control, in order to close loopholes in rent regulation system & stop the loss of affordable apartments

Sam Roberts: A history of home rule: why New York City needs Albany's permission to do just about anything (New York Times)

New York Post: Ritchie Torres introduces "property tax transparency" bill

Daily News: Residents decry gentrification of Lower East Side as new Marshalls department store gets ready to open next to Katz's Delicatessen

PRIMARY ELECTION SEPT. 13 - GUIDES

Gotham Gazette: Last-minute guide to tomorrow's primary election

City & State: List of all candidates running in New York State in 2018

Ken Lovett: Roundup of tomorrow's Democratic primary races (Daily News)

Noon rally 8/29: Landlords suing to gag tenant activists

COME TO A RALLY AGAINST THE LANDLORDS’ ASSAULT ON TENANT RIGHTS

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

12:00 Noon

Steps of City Hall, Lower Manhattan

Sue --

Thanks to the incredible work of tenants across this city, the powerful Rent Stabilization Association (RSA) is feeling the heat! And what does the RSA do when they want to shut people down? They file lawsuits to tie up our time and our money.

And that is just what they are doing to us. Met Council on Housing, along with Michael McKee, Tenants PAC, and the Real Rent Reform campaign, are being sued by the RSA for millions.

This means the RSA knows we are a powerful movement and that they are worried about what we can win in 2019 when the rent laws expire - just cause evictions, preferential rent reform, an end to MCIs, rent control reform. They are trying to refocus our energy on fighting this lawsuit instead of fighting for just rent laws.

Don't let landlords silence tenants. You can do three things important things: