New York tenants are finding themselves in an increasingly precarious moment. Market rents are rising. Expulsions are on the rise, while housing lawyers are finding it increasingly difficult to find. Unemployment remains persistently higher than before the pandemic.
And despite $ 2.3 billion in federal aid for landlords in New York whose tenants were lagging behind during the pandemic, most tenants never applied for the aid, and only 7 percent of those in need of financial aid applied. according to the National Equity Analysis. The group estimates that by mid-April, nearly 600,000 New Yorkers were lagging behind in rent and owed a total of $ 2.24 billion.
City council member Pierina Sanchez, who chairs the housing and buildings committee, said the vote had to wait until this year’s survey of unoccupied housing, which takes snapshots of the state of stabilized tenants in the city.
“RGB cannot move forward in good faith without recognizing the full extent of the impact that the coronavirus pandemic has had and continues to have on rental-stabilized households,” the council member said in a statement. “The landlord’s burdens are no more important than the tenant’s plight. I am confident that the HVS will further illustrate what many other sources show that stabilized tenants, who are more likely to have low incomes and receive public assistance, face astronomically high rents. It is this reality that must dictate the final decision of the RGB. “
Landlords have campaigned for large rent increases for stabilized tenants. The board voted to keep rents for the first year and a half of the pandemic, while a nearly two-year moratorium on evictions meant landlords could not evict indebted tenants. They point to an increase in fuel, maintenance and insurance costs that are ahead of what they may require for rent. A representative of the Rental Stabilization Association warned the board at a recent public hearing that property owners were on the verge of “irreparable damage” if they did not impose a significant increase in rents.
Following a vote on the board on Thursday night, Joseph Strasberg, president of the Rental Stabilization Association, said the proposed increases were not large enough. The group has been pushing for 6.5% and 9% increases in leasing for one and two years.
“These preliminary ranges have proven our greatest fear – that RGB continues to believe that it is its duty to work only as an accessibility program for tenants,” Strasbourg said. “The process is not designed to provide relief for tenants’ rentals – it is the government’s job through subsidy programs – so RGB must now take into account the highest end of the pre-ranges so that landlords can meet the rising inflation , property taxes, water bills, heating oil and other operating expenses. “
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