Dear Neighbor,
The Assembly passed a package of bills that promotes fairness in rent-regulated communities.
Now is the time to fix our rent laws once and for all, because more and more New Yorkers are
caught between the twin burdens of high rent and lost wages due to the economic crisis.
For over a decade, the Assembly Majority has been looking out for the best interests of renters
by battling the wealthy and powerful landlords whose primary goal is to end New York City’s rent
protection laws permanently.
New York City loses over 10,000 apartments to deregulation every year. Since 1997, over 300,000
units of rent-regulated housing have been lost, making it next to impossible for the people who make
our city work to live here, including teachers, police officers, firefighters and nurses.
The Assembly Majority is fighting to protect working families and low- and middle-income people from
being priced out of their homes, and ensuring that the people who keep our city running can afford to
live here, too.
Sincerely,
Assemblyman
N. Nick Perry
903 Utica Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11203
718-385-3336
perryn@assembly.state.ny.us
Assembly passes rent-regulation package.
Now let’s make them law.
New York City residents are battling a crushing recession and devastating job
losses – no one should be unfairly priced out of their homes, on top of it all. The
Assembly Majority is standing up to wealthy and powerful landlords who have
launched an unrelenting attack on rent regulations. Their goal is to deregulate
apartments permanently. That’s why Assemblyman Benjamin helped pass bills
to help ensure affordable housing continues in New York City:
-
Allow New York City to regulate its own rents (A.1688);
-
Repeal vacancy decontrol of apartments renting at $2,000 per month or more, and recapture
all formerly rent-regulated apartments that rented for less than $5,000 per month in New York
City and $3,500 outside of New York City (A.2005);
-
Increase civil penalties on landlords who harass tenants or who violate the state Division of Housing
and Community Renewal’s rent-regulation orders (A.2002);
-
Reduce the allowable rent increase after a vacancy from 20 percent to 10 percent and limit the
number of increases per year (A.1686);
-
Limit a building owner’s ability to recover a rent-regulated apartment for personal use
(A.1685);
-
Increase the rent and income deregulation thresholds (A.860);
-
Require landlords who charge a rent lower than the maximum amount to offer that same
base rent as long as the same tenant resides in the apartment (A.465);
-
Permit the declaration of an emergency pursuant to the Emergency Tenant Protection Act for
rental housing accommodations located in buildings formerly covered by a project-based
assistance contract pursuant to Section 8 of the U.S. Housing Act of 1937
(A.1687);
-
Extend the length of time over which major capital improvement (MCI) expenses may be
recovered and require that rent surcharges authorized for MCIs cease when the cost of the
improvement has been recovered (A.1928); and
-
Protect tenants in Mitchell-Lama developments by prohibiting an owner from applying for a
rent increase based on unique and peculiar circumstances when a project withdraws from the
program (A.857).
“Without rent regulation, only the rich would be able to afford to live here. We need to keep New York
City diverse. These measures could take some of the pressure off struggling families and put affordable
housing within reach of our hardworking men and women.”
– Assemblyman Perry
