New York State Senate, Assembly will vote on rent regulation bill

As landlords continue to buy out of affordable housing programs, low-income renters remain at risk.

Two programs—the state-subsidized Mitchell-Lama and the federally-subsidized Section 8—have been thrust to the forefront of legislative action that seeks to protect tenants by extending rent regulations. The New York State Senate passed a bill last month that would re-regulate buildings that had been deregulated after 1974—a bill on which the State Assembly has yet to vote.

The bill, known as S.3326 and sponsored by New York State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who represents Yonkers, must pass in both the State Senate and the New York State Assembly. If passed, the bill would extend rent regulation protection to all Mitchell-Lama and Section 8 buildings retroactively including buildings that have already left the programs and those previously exempted for so-called “unique and peculiar circumstances.” Earlier this month, Assembly member Linda Rosenthal, whose district includes the Upper West Side, agreed to co-sponsor the bill. State Senator Bill Perkins, who represents West Harlem and Washington Heights, is also a cosponsor.

Stewart-Cousins has said that, since her legislation would protect tenants even after their buildings leave rent-regulated housing programs, tenants “would be able to continue paying the moderate rents they had been paying while the building was in the Mitchell-Lama program. It offers protection so people will not find themselves looking for apartments they cannot afford.”

Many landlords are tempted to leave subsidized housing programs if the value of market-rate rent is greater than that of regulated rent. In 2005, 3333 Broadway in West Harlem bought out of the Mitchell-Lama program, and Trinity House, located on West 93rd Street, tried to do the same in 2008.

Philip Schorr of Bronx Pro Real Estate Management, the firm that used to manage Independence House—a Mitchell-Lama development on West 94th Street—has expressed concern that state-imposed constraints might negatively effect landlord finances. “The critical element of all of this is financial stability of the property,” Schorr said.

Nine bills relating to rent regulation passed the State Assembly in February, including A857, which closed the “unique and peculiar circumstance” loophole. But those bills “also have give-backs to landlords, so we strongly favor S.3326,” explained Amy Chan, the Mitchell-Lama organizer for advocacy group Tenants & Neighbors.

The Mitchell-Lama P.I.E. Campaign (Protections for tenants, Incentives for preservation, Enforcement from supervisory housing agencies), which Tenants & Neighbors coordinates, has taken an active role in promoting the Stewart-Cousins bill. The campaign has worked with organizations like the Park West Village Tenants Association and the Community Service Society.

Two other bills, A2498 and A2933, are similar to S.3326 but distinguish between the city and suburban counties “in a way that we don’t find is the best way for tenants,” Chan said. Moreover, neither of those bills provides retroactive protection.
Retroactive rent stabilization “is the key to making sure tenants can afford to live where they do,” Chan said. “Rent regulation has been in this city for a long time, and maintaining it is not an infringement on landlords’ rights.”

Rosenthal sponsored an earlier bill, A2005, to abolish the $2,000 cap on rent regulation. That passed the assembly on Feb. 2 and will enter the Senate later this year.

“These specific bills will have a large impact on housing policy, and if passed, will be a large victory for affordable housing,” Meghan Nutting, administrative director to Rosenthal, said.

The Assembly Housing Committee was scheduled to hold a hearing on April 23 to discuss ways to “preserve existing Mitchell-Lama housing and encourage the development of new units and to examine what actions can be taken to inform and protect tenants living in current and former Mitchell-Lama buildings,” according to the assembly’s public hearing notice.
But according to Nutting, a “legislative misunderstanding” led to the postponement of that hearing. Assemblyman Gary Pretlow of Westchester will present the bill instead of Rosenthal. Nutting declined to elaborate on the nature of the “misunderstanding” or on when the bill would be introduced.

The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program was created in 1974 to assist low-income tenants with children, the elderly, and people with disabilities. The program distributes vouchers through local, state, and regional housing agencies to families who then seek housing in the private sector in buildings where landlords will accept those vouchers.

The Mitchell-Lama program, created in 1955, provides affordable housing for moderate to middle-income tenants in rental and cooperative homes. According to the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, there are approximately 46,000 Mitchell-Lama units remaining in the city.