Good evening, and thank you for the opportunity to speak before you tonight.
As an Assemblymember representing Yonkers, I am very concerned about the permissible rent increase for tenants in apartments regulated under the Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974. While affordable housing is a persistent issue across the county, for Yonkers residents, who earn significantly less than the Westchester household median income, the lack of affordable housing is a crisis. According to U.S. Census Data, the annual median income for all of Westchester is over $80,000, but for Yonkers residents it is just $56,816, barely above the statewide median. Moreover, one-third of Yonkers residents earn less than thirty-five thousand dollars a year and fifteen percent of the residents live in poverty. In considering a permissible rent increase, I urge you to consider the tenants subject to these increases – they are the not the individuals earning the Westchester median income, they are the individuals struggling to get by. I urge you to consider the challenges these individuals face when you make your decision.i Moreover, I urge you to consider that each increase inches the unit away from the protections that are so important for ensuring residents have a safe, affordable place to live. I urge you to keep the increase to the minimum.
i. American Fact Finder, U.S. Census, 2011:
www.factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_11_5YR_DP03&prodType=table
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