A blue dawn for rent regs in Dem Senate?
In September, former City Councilmember Robert Jackson, joined by Congressmember Jerrold Nadler, Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal and
City Councilmember Ben Kallos, claimed victory in his primary challenge to incumbent state Senator Marisol Alcántara.
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most of these deals were done behind
closed doors.”
State Senator Brian Kavanagh
echoed Hoylman.
“For the fi rst time in many, many
years, we’re going to be able to have a
serious conversation where we’re not
being held hostage by Republicans that
control the Senate and are dependent
on the landlords to continue to keep
the majority,” said Kavanagh, who represents
much of Lower Manhattan.
Policies passed in the Assembly —
such as ending vacancy decontrol and
the vacancy bonus, strengthening preferential
rent, reforming major capital
improvements — are top goals for some
Democratic state senators, particularly
since rent laws expire next June.
“If you ask me, there’s no way we
don’t deal with housing regulation before
June 15 because that’s a big date in
the sky that cannot be extended or ignored,”
said state Senator Liz Krueger.
“I think there is a giant need out there
of people calling for us to take action
and a new Senate Democratic majority
conference hungry to deliver on these
issues.”
Some politicians, including Krueger,
Kavanagh, Hoylman and state Senatorelect
Robert Jackson, support repealing
the Urstadt Law of 1971, which prevents
New York City from determining
its own rules about rent regulation. But
that option would be an entirely different
pathway, one that Krueger said is an
option that would need to be discussed
further with advocates.
“If we were to pass ‘Urstadt repeal,’
we basically wouldn’t be passing most
of the other rent and tenant protection
bills that advocates talk about,” said
Krueger, who has sponsored Urstadt
repeal for years.
“In real life, it’s sort of an ‘either or,’
” she said. “Either you go down the
path of Urstadt repeal and it all falls
back to the City of New York to make
its own decisions; or you accept the
existing reality that the state sets the
regulation — but then you go to work
to make sure you’ve actually improved
the laws on behalf of people living in
rental housing.”
Former Councilmember Jackson —
who unseated Manhattan’s lone I.D.C.
member, state Senator Marisol Alcántara
— is confi dent the new Democratic
Senate can pass legislation to protect
tenants. The strong new majority of 39
Democrats was a “pleasant surprise,”
and with Brooklyn state Senate Simcha
Felder — a Democrat who has caucused
with Republicans — the Dems
would have 40 of 63 seats.
Jackson hopes Governor Andrew
Cuomo would sign bills passed in both
chambers on tenant protections. Last
month, Cuomo signaled he would support
ending vacancy decontrol, the
New York Post reported.
“I would hope that the governor understands
that there’s over a million
regulated renters in New York City
PHOTO BY SYDNEY PEREIRA
Schneps Community News Group TVG December 6, 2018 3