State Court upholds rent freeze

STATE COURT UPHOLDS RENT FREEEZE!!!   (Landlords likely to appeal) Politico NY: Judge upholds rent freeze,  dismisses landlord lawsuit against NYC RGB Daily News on rent freeze decision: judge says  board should consider tenant affordability Mike McKee http://www.tenantspac.org/ Tenants' PAC · United States

NYC Enacts Right to Counsel in Housing Court!

Tenants have won a huge victory:  Lawyers will provided free for tenants whose household income is under $50,000 (for a family of 4), and those with more income will get free legal counseling (but not representation) in court.

NY Times Editorial
A Housing Solution: Lawyers for Tenants

A Housing Solution: Lawyers for Tenants

By THE EDITORIAL BOARDFEB. 15, 2017

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Woody Guthrie's song about Fred Trump's home

Watch Ryan Harvey, Ani DiFranco, and Tom Morello singing Woody Guthrie's "Beach Haven Ain't My Home," about the Fred Trump-owned, segregated development where Woody was living at the time.  


Music by Ryan Harvey. . Click on "read more" for the lyrics by Woody Guthrie.

City Limits: 10 Housing Policies to Watch under Trump

City Limits: 10 Housing Policies to Watch Under President Trump
Excerpt: 

[E]ven if we can hope for progress on a local level, New Yorkers can’t afford to ignore housing problems outside city borders, says Laura Mascuch, director of the Supportive Housing Network of New York. Rural counties—including areas of upstate New York—depend on federal sources for a greater portion of their housing budgets, and their housing problems affect city residents, too: Nationally, homeownership rates are at their lowest in fifty years, which experts say is helping to drive up demand in the rental market, worsening the affordability crisis in cities. One election result analysis shows a correlation between negative home values and support for Trump. In other words, hiding in a progressive bubble while ignoring federal fights is probably not the answer, either.

Here are 10 national housing battles in the hands of Congress and the White House that activists say could be worth following in the months to come.  [Read the whole article for a list and explanation of each issue and how we can fight back. l

ProPublica: Why Big Developers Give $$$ to Politicians

Why Developers of Manhattan 
Luxury Towers Give Millions to 
Upstate Candidates
A first-of-its-kind analysis shows just how tactical the real-
estate industry is about bankrolling state legislators who will 
protect its $1.4 billion tax break and weaken rent laws.

by Cezary Podkul and Derek Kravitz, ProPublica, and 
Will Parker, The Real Deal, Dec. 30, 2016, 8 a.m.

The Fateful Vote that Made NYC Rents So High

The Fateful Vote That Made 

New York City Rents So High

A 1994 City Council vote enabling landlords 
to dodge limits on rent increases has had a 
profound impact on the lives of New Yorkers.

by Marcelo Rochabrun and Cezary Podkul
ProPublica, Dec. 15, 2016, 8 a.m.

EXCERPT:

How landlords gained the ability to remove apartments 
from regulation has a surprising backstory. Over the 
years, the Republican-dominated State Senate has often 
flexed its muscle to weaken rent stabilization at the 
behest of real-estate interests. Yet it was an overwhelmingly 
Democratic body that made the most important and 
far-reaching move. Shortly before Easter in 1994, by 
a 28-18 margin, the New York City Council implemented 
what is known as “vacancy decontrol,” which allowed a 
landlord to escape regulation and charge market rates 
once tenants moved out of apartments that cost at least $
2,000 a month. Then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani signed 
the measure into law.

Read the full article!

Rally against 421-A deal

The proposed deal between the Real Estate Board of NY (REBNY) and the construction unions guarantees higher wages for buildings constructed with proposed 421-A tax breaks.  But at what cost?  On THURSDAY, DEC. 1 at 1 PM at City Hall in Manhattan, join the Real Rent Reform Campaign, the Alliance for Tenant Power and other coalitions opposed to the $billion giveaway to developers. 

See NY Slant's article by Tom Waters

GOVERNOR CUOMO’S FLAWED 421-A PROPOSAL

BY TOM WATERS |  

NOVEMBER 29, 2016 |  

Excerpt:  

In recent years, 421-a has cost New York City more than a billion dollars a year in foregone tax revenue ($1.2 billion in 2016), while producing about $100 million a year worth of affordable housing.

Cuomo’s proposal would cost the city $2.4 billion a year in revenue, without bringing about a remotely comparable increase in affordability benefit.

This enormous new tax expenditure would be wasteful in any context, but it is especially ill advised at a time when vital federal subsidy streams to the city are in jeopardy in a Trump presidency. For comparison, the New York City Housing Authority currently receives $910 million a year in federal operating subsidies for public housing and $930 million a year for Section 8 vouchers. 

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