Affordably Vacant Housing In New York by Joel Chaffee
Affordably Vacant Housing In New York
 by Joel Chaffee
 Wednesday, June 9th, 2010
 New York, NY
 Views: 10,357
 
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Vacancy decontrol has been a hot topic throughout the Bloomberg years  
in New York, during which almost 1/5 of the city's lots were rezoned.  
S2237 (Full Repeal of Vacancy Decontrol) and several other bills  
seeking to prevent vacancy decontrol, are presently sitting in the NY  
Senate, awaiting the political support to be voted on; or not.

Vacancy decontrol means that when an apartment's rent reaches $2,000  
per month and the tenant moves out, then the apartment is no longer  
considered rent-stabilized. As quoted recently in The Indypendent,  
Michael McKee of Tenants and Neighbors, an advocacy group, said that  
"Ninety percent of landlords will just stop registering the apartment  
and tell tenants that it's not rent-stabilized." And since most of us  
don't know the difference between rent-stabilization and rent-control  
- or the rights they provide us - few tenants seek reparations or  
justice.
What is meant by "affordable"? The U.S. Department of Housing and  
Urban Development (HUD) states that the "generally accepted definition  
of affordability" is housing costs not exceeding 30% of the family  
income. A report released this month from Citizens Budget Commission  
found that of households making less than $35,000, "citywide about 10  
percent had affordable housing."
 
The Working Families party, which supports the various Vacancy  
Decontrol bills, claims that the city and environs have lost 300,000  
apartments "from rent and eviction protections and are no longer  
affordable." Applying pressure to middle and low-income renters is no  
difficult thing for large and wealthy realty firms and their arsenal  
of lawyers and contracts, perhaps most notably Pinnacle Group, which  
is Praedium Group, which is Credit Suisse. A big company with these  
resources can, as was reported back in 2006, come at tenants with  
"threatening letters, eviction notices, and lawsuits." Sure, the  
tenants can combat these in a David vs. Goliath adventure; but in the  
world of NYC realty, the small stone usually misses the mark - or  
strikes and bounces off the giant's head.
 
Fortunately, May 3rd was officially New York City Affordable Housing  
Day, "marking the financing of 100,000 units of housing created or  
preserved" under Bloomberg's New Housing Marketplace Plan. (Like all  
American solutions, it must be market based.)
 
However, even the U.N. has gotten into the action on New York housing.  
In 2008, Special Rapporteur Raquel Rolnik visited New York and other  
U.S. cities, and cited the tactics of vacancy decontrol in her report.  
Citing specifically buildings with securitized mortgages that were  
sold and resold in what become the current bursting of the real estate  
bubble, the U.N. report found that "new owners [of these buildings]  
engage in aggressive tactics to evict residents in order to raise  
rents to subsequent residents, and eventually remove the building from  
the rent stabilization scheme." The report also noted that these  
problems, "the impacts of predatory equity," were being felt hardest  
in New York of all U.S. cities studied.
 
The Vacancy Decontrol bills are being pushed by many community minded  
politicians. The New York State Conference of Black Senators has  
included it on their 2010 Signature Agenda - which seeks to bring  
attention to bills not being voted on in the Senate. But without  
support of powerful Senators like Dilan and Espada, the bills do not  
look to be anywhere close to a vote; much less implementation.Vacancy decontrol has been a hot topic throughout the Bloomberg years  
in New York, during which almost 1/5 of the city's lots were rezoned.  
S2237 (Full Repeal of Vacancy Decontrol) and several other bills  
seeking to prevent vacancy decontrol, are presently sitting in the NY  
Senate, awaiting the political support to be voted on; or not.
 
 
 
Vacancy decontrol means that when an apartment's rent reaches $2,000  
per month and the tenant moves out, then the apartment is no longer  
considered rent-stabilized. As quoted recently in The Indypendent,  
Michael McKee of Tenants and Neighbors, an advocacy group, said that  
"Ninety percent of landlords will just stop registering the apartment  
and tell tenants that it's not rent-stabilized." And since most of us  
don't know the difference between rent-stabilization and rent-control  
- or the rights they provide us - few tenants seek reparations or  
justice.
 
 
 
What is meant by "affordable"? The U.S. Department of Housing and  
Urban Development (HUD) states that the "generally accepted definition  
of affordability" is housing costs not exceeding 30% of the family  
income. A report released this month from Citizens Budget Commission  
found that of households making less than $35,000, "citywide about 10  
percent had affordable housing."
 
 
 
The Working Families party, which supports the various Vacancy  
Decontrol bills, claims that the city and environs have lost 300,000  
apartments "from rent and eviction protections and are no longer  
affordable." Applying pressure to middle and low-income renters is no  
difficult thing for large and wealthy realty firms and their arsenal  
of lawyers and contracts, perhaps most notably Pinnacle Group, which  
is Praedium Group, which is Credit Suisse. A big company with these  
resources can, as was reported back in 2006, come at tenants with  
"threatening letters, eviction notices, and lawsuits." Sure, the  
tenants can combat these in a David vs. Goliath adventure; but in the  
world of NYC realty, the small stone usually misses the mark - or  
strikes and bounces off the giant's head.
 
 
 
Fortunately, May 3rd was officially New York City Affordable Housing  
Day, "marking the financing of 100,000 units of housing created or  
preserved" under Bloomberg's New Housing Marketplace Plan. (Like all  
American solutions, it must be market based.)
 
 
 
However, even the U.N. has gotten into the action on New York housing.  
In 2008, Special Rapporteur Raquel Rolnik visited New York and other  
U.S. cities, and cited the tactics of vacancy decontrol in her report.  
Citing specifically buildings with securitized mortgages that were  
sold and resold in what become the current bursting of the real estate  
bubble, the U.N. report found that "new owners [of these buildings]  
engage in aggressive tactics to evict residents in order to raise  
rents to subsequent residents, and eventually remove the building from  
the rent stabilization scheme." The report also noted that these  
problems, "the impacts of predatory equity," were being felt hardest  
in New York of all U.S. cities studied.
 
 
 
The Vacancy Decontrol bills are being pushed by many community minded  
politicians. The New York State Conference of Black Senators has  
included it on their 2010 Signature Agenda - which seeks to bring  
attention to bills not being voted on in the Senate. But without  
support of powerful Senators like Dilan and Espada, the bills do not  
look to be anywhere close to a vote; much less implementation.

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Last updated by Joel Chaffee - Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 -  New York, NY

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