Relates to enacting the rent emergency stabilization for tenants act on local determinations of a housing emergency; authorizes a city with a population of one million or more to declare an emergency as to any class of housing accommodations if the vacancy rate for the housing accommodations in such class within such municipality is not in excess of five percent and a declaration of emergency may be made as to all housing accommodations if the vacancy rate for the housing accommodations within such municipality is not in excess of five percent; authorizes other cities, towns and villages to declare a housing emergency after considering publicly available data and holding public hearings.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4659--B
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 10, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sens. KAVANAGH, BASKIN, BOTTCHER, BRISPORT, BROUK, CLEARE,
GONZALEZ, HARCKHAM, HINCHEY, JACKSON, KRUEGER, MAY, MAYER, MYRIE,
RIVERA, SALAZAR, SANDERS, SERRANO, STAVISKY, WEBB -- read twice and
ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on
Housing, Construction and Community Development -- committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to said committee -- recommitted to the Committee on Housing,
Construction and Community Development in accordance with Senate Rule
6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seven-
ty-four, in relation to enacting the rent emergency stabilization for
tenants act on local determinations of a housing emergency
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "rent emergency stabilization for tenants act".
3 § 2. Section 3 of section 4 of chapter 576 of the laws of 1974,
4 constituting the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-
5 four, subdivision a as amended by chapter 69 of the laws of 1980, subdi-
6 visions d, f and g as added by chapter 698 of the laws of 2023 and
7 subdivision e as amended by chapter 100 of the laws of 2024, is amended
8 to read as follows:
9 § 3. Local determination of emergency; end of emergency. a. The exist-
10 ence of public emergency requiring the regulation of residential rents
11 for all or any class or classes of housing accommodations, including any
12 plot or parcel of land which had been rented prior to May first, nine-
13 teen hundred fifty, for the purpose of permitting the tenant thereof to
14 construct or place [his] such tenant's own dwelling thereon and on which
15 plot or parcel of land there exists a dwelling owned and occupied by a
16 tenant of such plot or parcel, heretofore destabilized; heretofore or
17 hereafter decontrolled, exempt, not subject to control, or exempted from
18 regulation and control under the provisions of the emergency housing
19 rent control law, the local emergency housing rent control act or the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05109-06-6
S. 4659--B 2
1 New York city rent stabilization law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine; or
2 subject to stabilization or control under such rent stabilization law,
3 shall be a matter for local determination within each city, town or
4 village. Any such determination shall be made by the local legislative
5 body of such city, town or village on the basis of the supply of housing
6 accommodations within such city, town or village, the condition of such
7 accommodations and the need for regulating and controlling residential
8 rents within such city, town or village.
9 [A] b. For a city having a population of one million or more resi-
10 dents, a declaration of emergency may be made as to any class of housing
11 accommodations if the vacancy rate for the housing accommodations in
12 such class within such municipality is not in excess of five percent and
13 a declaration of emergency may be made as to all housing accommodations
14 if the vacancy rate for the housing accommodations within such munici-
15 pality is not in excess of five percent.
16 [b.] c. For a city having a population of less than one million resi-
17 dents or a town or village, the local legislative body may declare a
18 housing emergency through the process described in paragraph one or two
19 of this subdivision. For such a jurisdiction where a local legislative
20 body has declared a housing emergency pursuant to this act prior to the
21 effective date of this subdivision, the local legislative body may add
22 classes of accommodation as described in paragraph five-b of subdivision
23 a of section five of this act, through the process described in para-
24 graph one or two of this subdivision.
25 (1) The local legislative body may declare a housing emergency after
26 considering publicly available data and holding public hearings. Before
27 declaring such emergency, the local legislative body shall consider
28 publicly available data measuring or estimating factors such as: over-
29 all housing supply, vacancy rate for housing accommodations, the avail-
30 ability of affordable and habitable housing accommodations, rent burdens
31 for tenants or other measures of housing affordability, the local or
32 regional homelessness rate, and the need for regulating rents within
33 such city, town or village.
34 (2) The local legislative body may declare an emergency as to any
35 class of housing accommodations if the vacancy rate for such housing
36 accommodations in such class within such municipality is not in excess
37 of five percent and a declaration of emergency may be made as to all
38 housing accommodations if the vacancy rate for the housing accommo-
39 dations within such municipality is not in excess of five percent.
40 (i) A municipality or a designee, as part of a study to determine its
41 vacancy rate, owners, or their agent, of housing accommodations in the
42 class of housing accommodations determined, shall provide the most
43 recent records of rent rolls and, if available, records for the preced-
44 ing thirty-six months. Such records shall include the tenant's relevant
45 information relating to finding the vacancy rate of such municipality
46 including but not limited to the name, address, and amount paid or
47 charged on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis for each occupied housing
48 accommodation and which housing accommodations are vacant at the time of
49 the survey and available for rent. Such records shall also include any
50 housing accommodations that are vacant and not available for rent and
51 provide the reason why such unit is not available for rent.
52 (ii) A municipality may impose a civil penalty or fee of up to five
53 hundred dollars on an owner or their agent if such owner or their agent
54 refuses to participate in such vacancy survey and cooperate with such
55 municipality or a designee in such vacancy survey, or submits knowingly
56 and intentionally false vacancy information.
S. 4659--B 3
1 (iii) A nonrespondent owner shall be deemed to have zero vacancies.
2 (iv) Identifying data or information shall be kept confidential and
3 shall not be shared, traded, given, or sold to any other entity for any
4 purpose outside of such vacancy study.
5 d. A city of under one million residents or a town or village may add
6 classes of accommodation to regulation under this act in buildings
7 containing fewer than six but not fewer than four units.
8 e. The local governing body of a city, town or village having declared
9 an emergency pursuant to subdivision a, b, or c of this section may at
10 any time, on the basis of the supply of housing accommodations within
11 such city, town or village, the condition of such accommodations and the
12 need for continued regulation and control of residential rents within
13 such municipality, declare that the emergency is either wholly or
14 partially abated or that the regulation of rents pursuant to this act
15 does not serve to abate such emergency and thereby remove one or more
16 classes of accommodations from regulation under this act. [The emergency
17 must be declared at an end once the vacancy rate described in subdivi-
18 sion a of this section exceeds five percent.
19 c.] f. No resolution declaring the existence or end of an emergency,
20 as authorized by [subdivisions] subdivision a [and], b or c of this
21 section, may be adopted except after public hearing held on not less
22 than ten days public notice, as the local legislative body may reason-
23 ably provide.
24 [d. When requested by a municipality or a designee, as a part of a
25 study to determine its vacancy rate, owners, or their agent, of housing
26 accommodations in the class of housing accommodations determined, shall
27 provide the most recent records of rent rolls and, if available, records
28 for the preceding thirty-six months. Such records shall include the
29 tenant's relevant information relating to finding the vacancy rate of
30 such municipality including but not limited to the name, address, and
31 amount paid or charged on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis for each
32 occupied housing accommodation and which housing accommodations are
33 vacant at the time of the survey and available for rent. Such records
34 shall also include any housing accommodations that are vacant and not
35 available for rent and provide the reason why such unit is not available
36 for rent.
37 e. A municipality may impose a civil penalty or fee of up to five
38 hundred dollars on an owner or their agent if the owner or their agent
39 refuses to participate in such vacancy survey and cooperate with the
40 municipality or a designee in such vacancy survey, or submits knowingly
41 and intentionally false vacancy information.
42 f. A nonrespondent owner shall be deemed to have zero vacancies.
43 g. Identifying data or information shall be kept confidential and
44 shall not be shared, traded, given, or sold to any other entity for any
45 purpose outside of such vacancy study.]
46 § 3. Subdivision a of section 5 of section 4 of chapter 576 of the
47 laws of 1974, constituting the emergency tenant protection act of nine-
48 teen seventy-four, is amended by adding a new paragraph 5-b to read as
49 follows:
50 (5-b) housing accommodations located in a city having a population of
51 less than one million residents or a town or village in buildings
52 completed or buildings substantially rehabilitated as family units with-
53 in the past fifteen years.
54 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
