CITYWIDE RALLY: Close the vacancy decontrol loophole!
Tuesday, December 9th, 6:30pm
Society for Ethical Culture
2 West 64th St. and Central Park West
1 train to 66th St.; A,B, C, D to Columbus Circle
How to find your fellow West Siders at the rally: The West Side Neighborhood Alliance was an early endorser of the rally and our members and supporters are turning out in force. Once you arrive at the indoor rally location, be sure to find the WSNA contingent. Come early if you can since the lines to sign-in will get quite long once the 18 buses full of tenant activists arrive from around the city. We'll be sitting together on the right hand side toward the middle of the space. Look for the WSNA sign held high above the crowd in that seating area to locate us. We want a united group of West Side residents, so please join us there. We'll have special WSNA stickers waiting for you!
Background:
Tenant organizations in New York City and suburban counties are launching an intensive campaign to repeal Vacancy Decontrol when the State Legislature reconvenes next month in Albany.
In the last 15 years, Vacancy Decontrol has resulted in the conversion of 200,000 to 300,000 affordable rent-controlled and rent-stabilized units in the downstate region to market-rate, unaffordable apartments. Tenants moving into these deregulated apartments have no basic protections: no limits on how much their landlords can raise their rents, and no tenure protections - no right to remain without the landlord's consent, no statutory tenancy protections as under rent control, no right to an automatic lease renewal as under rent stabilization.
Unless we can repeal this loophole, the entire rent-regulated universe will be lost in the next several years. Vacancy decontrol is responsible for all the distortions we see in the downstate rental housing market, including an upsurge in landlord harassment of tenants, an upsurge in evictions and eviction attempts, and the increasing use of private equity funds to finance predatory purchases of apartment buildings that can be profitable only if the new landlords succeed in forcing regulated tenants to move so the apartment can be permanently decontrolled on vacancy.
With the Democratic takeover of the New York State Senate as a result of the November 4 statewide elections, and a Democratic Governor, we have a new opportunity to enact pro-tenant legislation, to take back what we have lost under Republican control, and to expand tenant protections and preserve our affordable housing supply. We have a big reform agenda and repeal of Vacancy Decontrol is only the first demand. We will have to work to win pro-tenant legislation - we have a powerful adversary, whose power comes from their money. We will need your financial support and your time and effort to win.
Do not miss this important rally, the launch of the campaign to repeal Vacancy Decontrol. The rally promises to be high energy and fun. Come early if you can. Wear your R3 t-shirts!
Real Rent Reform (R3) campaign
www.realrentreform.org
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment