A measure pulled midway through an Assembly vote this week shows state Democrats could struggle to reach a compromise on housing reform in the remaining weeks of the legislative session.
With the session ending June 8, time is running out for lawmakers to pass legislation, such as Good Cause Eviction, they say is a priority after housing proposals were pulled from the state budget.
A bill to ban landlords The rent delinquent statement to a credit agency was withdrawn Wednesday during a slow roll call vote initiated by Assembly Republicans.
Twenty Democratic lawmakers voted against it, including Rep. Phil Steck, a Colonie Democrat.
“I think the bill had problems because it was too open,” Steck said Friday. “If I had said, ‘You can report to a credit agency as long as the following conditions are met,’ I think it would have been easier.”
During the debate, Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, sponsor and chair of the Housing Committee, said landlords have used the tactic to harass tenants to affect their credit rating and their ability to secure another lease. in the future.
“It is often used as a tool of harassment,” the assemblywoman explained before the bill was withdrawn. “There is often a bitter and conflicted relationship between the tenant and the landlord, and often, landlords try to resort to tainting a person’s credit rating, which if they evict, will make it very difficult to rent another apartment.”
Rosenthal said his proposal levels the playing field for tenants, as landlords can pursue fines against tenants who routinely default on their monthly payments or seek eviction in court.
“The Republican Party is often known for deliberately spreading misinformation when it opposes policies that would benefit everyday people, and unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened in the Assembly this week,” Rosenthal said in a statement. Friday. “While there needs to be more education on the credit reporting bill, my colleagues and I remain steadfast in our commitment to prioritize housing policies that benefit all those struggling to survive in the city of New York and declare this legislative session. The housing crisis is not going away.”
Pressure is mounting on lawmakers to pass legislation to address a range of housing issues after they largely rejected Gov. Kathy Hochul’s housing plan included in her State of the State address and executive budget The governor’s Housing Compact proposed building 800,000 housing units over the next decade with the power to override local zoning rules.
Democrats, including the two chairmen of the housing committee, are prioritizing the move of Eviction for Good Cause before leaving Albany for the year.
The bill requires landlords to give just cause for an eviction and limits rent increases for tenants to 3% of the previous rent amount or 1.5% of the consumer price index, whichever is higher, with exceptions for renovations and higher consumer increases. price index
“They don’t need a reason under the law now to do it; they don’t really need a justification,” said sponsor Sen. Julia Salazar, D-Brooklyn. “Nor do they need to raise the rent even by an astronomical amount.”
Senators fought to include good cause eviction provisions in the budget before all housing policy was eliminated.
Landlords across the state oppose Good Cause, saying large rent increases were made to keep up with inflation and rent prices were significantly reduced at the height of the pandemic. COVID-19.
Ann Korchak, board president of Small Property Owners of New York, says the bill will do nothing to prevent the housing shortage or raise property taxes.
“Housing has huge costs, and rents have to go up to cover those costs,” Korchak said. “…Good Cause Eviction doesn’t build a unit of housing, and we need a lot more housing.”
Other landlords say the legislation will make it nearly impossible to try to remove a tenant who affects the quality of life of others and will limit the evidence accepted in court.
Hochul has said he is working with leaders this session and the rest of the year to reach a compromise to create incentives to build more housing units, as well as protections for tenants.
“I’ve made it clear with the leaders: Let’s sit down together,” Hochul said April 27 as he announced a tentative budget deal. “Let’s sit down with the chairs of the house and come up with a thoughtful approach, let’s work on it over the next year as well and look at it again in next year’s budget.”
But many lawmakers say the schedule is unacceptable.
“We cannot build our way out of this crisis,” said Rep. Marcela Mitaynes, D-Brooklyn. “The governor is talking about having a year to figure it out, and we’re saying we are, we don’t have time.”
State Democrats will need to come together and reach a consensus quickly if they have any chance of passing housing reforms before the session ends.
Landlords and lawmakers agree that the Legislature needs to pass a robust housing voucher program to support tenants who struggle to pay rent even if they move.
Rosenthal has led the push for the proposed housing voucher program to help pay rent or New Yorkers facing eviction.
Democrats will also work to pass a bill dubbed the Tenant Opportunity to Buy Act to give tenants first right of refusal if their building is put on the market and provide rent subsidy for people who threaten to become homeless
Korchak says he supports the intent behind the Tenant Opportunity to Buy Act to promote homeownership, but that landlords should wait several months to offer renters the ‘opportunity to organize your financing.
“If you’re selling the building, oftentimes, it’s family owned … and very oftentimes, it’s because someone has died,” he said. “The IRS is waiting. It’s just not viable, if you have to sell the property, to pay taxes.”
Lawmakers argue the measures are a good place to start after the failure to negotiate the governor’s housing plan.
The final $229 billion budget was approved last week more than a month late, giving elected officials less time to pass legislation to send to the governor’s desk.
“We have to sound the alarm and we have to tell the people that now is the time to mobilize, now is the time to tell the governor that we cannot wait,” Mitaynes said. “Yesterday we needed protection.”
