TENANTS WILL RALLY AT RENT GUIDELINES BOARD PRELIMINARY VOTE FOR A RENT ROLLBACK
New York, NY – May 5, 2014 – (RealEstateRama) — Today at 5 pm, approximately a hundred tenants and tenant advocates representing rent-stabilized tenants citywide will rally for a rent rollback for rent-stabilized tenants at the preliminary Rent Guidelines Board vote. On the same day that Mayor de Blasio releases his affordable housing plan, tenants will call for a rent rollback as a course correction for the high increases approved by a Mayor Bloomberg-appointed Rent Guidelines Board. As low and moderate income tenants have seen their rent burden increase, the owners’ Net Operating Income (NOI) has gone up for the 8th consecutive year, and this year is at an outrageous annual increase of 9.6%. Tenants and advocates are calling on owners to bear their fair share of the economic burden because their profits are steadily increasing.
“Rent-stabilized tenants have for too many years paid for landlord profit. This is not anecdotal but borne out by the Board’s own data.” said Katie Goldstein, Executive Director of Tenants & Neighbors. “This is the year for much needed relief for rent-stabilized tenants who have seen their rent burden increase significantly during Mayor Bloomberg’s administration. Rent-stabilization is the largest source of affordable housing for low-income tenants, and it must be a priority of Mayor de Blasio’s administration to maintain rent-stabilized housing’s affordability.”
“I don’t know how I am going to survive if they continue raising my rent, I have limited retirement pension which is not enough to live [on],” said Nurys Rivera, a tenant from 630 West 141st St. in Harlem and member of Mirabal Sisters Cultural and Community Center.
“Too many families are overburdened by increasing rents while landlords have been making more and more in profits. A rent rollback will give tenants relief! We can use that extra cash just to be able to afford other important necessities, like paying for quality food, paying for medicine or getting an extra pair of school shoes for our kids,” said Fitzroy Christian, a leader of CASA-New Settlement, a tenants’ rights organization in the Bronx.
Tenants and advocates also demanded that the RGB hold hearings outside of Manhattan. And after tenants organized protests, the Board agreed to hold public hearings this year in Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn. After the preliminary vote, the Rent Guidelines Board members will hear public testimony from owners and tenants in preparation for the final vote on June 23, 2014.
Contact: Delsenia Glover 914-258-4098/
