RENT GUIDELINES BOARD: WHAT'S AT STAKE? | Mayor de Blasio was swept into office because a "Tale of Two Cities" resonated with the vast majority of voters. In our humble opinion, the first step to building a city that works for all of us - regardless of socio-economic status - is to ensure that New Yorkers can afford to live in New York.
It appeared to members of the housing justice movement that Mayor de Blasio agreed. When running for office, he pledged to freeze rents. So the RGB vote has taken on a new significance - the RGB's decision will send a message about what sort of administration the new mayor will run.
Our executive director, Jaron Benjamin, wrote about what a rent freeze would mean for tenants in the NY Times' Room for Debate section, and pointed out how many low-income tenants are in danger of losing their homes and becoming homeless. 
Keisha Jacobs, a leader with UHAB, talked to the New York Daily News about what a rent freeze would mean to her family. Read the story HERE. | | After More than 200 tenants gathered outside of the first Rent Guidelines Board meeting this year, (read coverage in the NY Times and the Wall Street Journal), the Rent Guidelines Board met on May 5th to vote on rent adjustments for the approximately one million rent regulated apartments in NYC. Tenants collectively pushed for a rent rollback because a reduction in rent would drastically help NYC tenants. Any reasonable person can see that NYC tenants need a rent rollback (or a rent freeze at the very least). There were spikes in unaffordability for rent stabilized tenants during the Bloomberg Administration. For the last twelve years, landlord income has outpaced tenant's earnings. Since the recession began in 2008, landlords of rent stabilized apartments grew from $.35 on the dollar to $.40 on the dollar.
A rent freeze does not do enough to restore balance, which is why we called a rent rollback. But when the Rent Guidelines Board held their initial vote, the new board approved a range of increases from 0-3% for a one year lease renewal and 0.5-4.5% for a two year renewal. Despite our disappointment, we are cautiously optimistic that with more pressure and a continued presence, we can achieve a rent freeze.  Wasim Lone, a long time tenant organizer, held a sign designed to hold the new mayor accaountable for his campaign promise. Read coverage about Monday's hearing in the NY Daily News HERE. | | The new mayor's affordable housing plan relied heavily on the construction of new affordable housing. During the last decade, we lost far more affordable housing than we gained, and we can't build our way out of this crisis. We need an affordable housing agenda that focuses on the New Yorkers who were shut out of Bloomberg's plans. This agenda, in part, must include a rent freeze.
Tenants have showed up in droves and have outnumbered landlords all year long. We have to keep up the pressure. If you haven't been involved in this year's RGB hearings, now's the time to do it. If you've been at every RGB event, bring your friends.
Our actions will shape the future of the city, and will help determine who can live here. Rent regulated housing is the largest affordable housing program in the state, and the most important fight to protect it has begun.
WHAT: Rent Guidelines Board Final Vote
WHEN: Monday, June 23 at 6pm
WHERE: 7 East 7th Street, the Great Hall at Cooper Union
Please contact Joseph Loonam at joseph@metcouncilonhousing.org for more information, fliers, and organizing opportunities.
| | The Rent Guidelines Board is holding hearings throughout New York City. Go to go to www.nycrgb.org/html/about/meetings.html or see the chart below to find out when and where.
But most importantly, tenants need to turn out in great numbers and testify. This can seem daunting, but we've attached a short guide to testifying in the next section. This should help every rent stabilized tenant prepare to use their voice to speak out against unfair and unjust rent hikes.
| Date | Location | Time | | Wednesday,
June 18, 2014
Public Testimony | Brooklyn Borough Hall
209 Joralemon Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201 | 5:00 - 8:00 P.M. | | Thursday,
June 19, 2014
Public Testimony | Queens Borough Hall
120-55 Queens Boulevard
Kew Gardens, NY 11424 | 5:00 - 8:00 P.M. | | Monday,
June 23, 2014
Final Vote | The Great Hall at Cooper Union
7 East 7th Street at corner of 3rd Ave. (Basement)
New York, NY 10003 | 6:00 P.M. |
| KNOW YOUR RIGHTS: TESTIFY AT THE RGB The Rent Guidelines Board will vote June 23 to set how much landlords can raise rents on rent-stabilized apartments for leases beginning on or after Oct. 1. On May 5, it recommended that this year's increases be between zero and 3 percent for one year and between 0.5 and 4.5 percent for two.
There are two public hearings left before the final vote, and the Rent Guidelines Board needs to hear from you. If you're a rent stabilized tenant living in either Queens or Brooklyn,
We believe that a rent freeze—or better, a rent rollback—is justified because of the high increases the RGB has granted over the last several years. Here are some points to make while testifying at the public hearings: - Talk about the economic hardships you're facing. Do you live on a fixed income? Have you lost your job? Are you are supporting your children or other members of your household? Are you are working two or more jobs in order to make ends meet?
- The RGB should consider the incredible hardship that any increase at all will cause to many low- and moderate-income tenants, whose incomes have not kept up with the cost of living—and especially with rising rents. For example, the smallest rent increase the board has ever voted, 2 percent for one year and 4 percent for two, is twice as much as the raise city teachers and transit workers just got.
- Landlords don't deserve more rent, and should bear their fair share of the economic burden in this city because their profits are increasing, even since the recession began.
- If you have received an MCI increase over the past 10 years or so, talk about how your rent has increased more than the RGB guidelines. For example, if you received an MCI last year and signed a two-year lease, your rent would have increased by 13.75 percent—the RGB guideline of 7.75 percent and the 6 percent allowed for MCIs. Talk about how these permanent rent increases affect your ability to pay your rent.
- If you moved into your apartment less than a few years ago, did your landlord claim a vacancy increase or an Individual Apartment Improvement increase before you moved in? That means they've raised your rent by far more than the RGB guidelines would normally allow.
- Compare the increases your landlord has received to the increases you have received in income. How much was your rent ten years ago, and how much is it now? How much was your income ten years ago, and how much is it now? For example, say "In 2004, my rent was ___, now it is ____. In 2004, my income was ___, now its ___."
- If you are now spending more than 30 percent of your income on rent, that is more than what the federal government defines as a hardship for tenants. Make sure you include that fact in your testimony. Today, half of rent-stabilized tenants are paying more than about 35 percent of their income in rent. Almost 1/3 are paying more than half of theirs.
- If you know for sure that your building's owner is a predatory-equity landlord who has overpaid for your building and is actively seeking to drive tenants out and raise rents high enough to get the apartments deregulated, include this in your testimony.
For more information or to sign up to testify, go to www.nycrgb.org/html/about/meetings.html, or contact us at joseph@metcouncilonhousing.org.
| MET COUNCIL IN THE NEWS | **Please note that the Met Council on Housing is not and has never been affiliated with the Met Council on Jewish Poverty in any way** |
The Met Council on Housing is dedicated to fighting for safe, stable, affordable housing for more than 50 years.
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