Res 0596-2015

By Council Members Williams, Chin, Gibson, Johnson, Lander, Richards, Rose, Rodriguez, Cornegy, Garodnick, Miller, Van Bramer, Levin, Kallos, Cohen and Menchaca Whereas, The serious housing emergency that has led to the enactment of the rent regulation laws continues to exist in New York City; and Whereas, The latest Housing and Vacancy Survey conducted by the United States Bureau of the Census reveals a vacancy rate of only 3.45 percent in New York City; and Whereas, New York State's rent regulation programs, known as rent control and rent stabilization, cover about 1 million apartments in New York City; and Whereas, Rent-regulated housing represents most of the City's affordable housing; and Whereas, Vacancy decontrol is the process by which a property owner removes a rent-regulated unit from the regulatory system when the permitted rent of the vacant unit increases above $2,500 a month; and Whereas, The New York City Rent Guidelines Board stated that about 133,173 rent-stabilized units have been deregulated due to vacancy decontrol since 1994; and Whereas, This practice has greatly exacerbated the City's severe lack of affordable housing by taking thousands of affordable units off the market; and Whereas, The lack of affordable housing creates a financial hardship because many households are paying at or over 30% of their income towards rent; and Whereas, This financial hardship has forced many tenants to relocate, live in substandard housing conditions or become unable to keep up with living expenses; and Whereas, Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal introduced A.1865 to repeal vacancy decontrol; and Whereas, This bill is necessary to preserve New York City's affordable housing for future generations; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the New York State Legislature to pass, and the Governor to approve, A.1865, in relation to repealing vacancy decontrol. JLC LS 2375/2014 2/26/15- 7:08p