|  |
|
It looks like a package of tenant bills may be on the legislative agenda for Tuesday, August 3rd.
Go to Albany with Tenants & Neighbors (and the R3 Campaign).
The van leaves
- Tuesday, August 3
- 7:30 AM
- 96th Street & Amsterdam Ave. (northwest corner, near the church)
Contact Mary Tek to join the group. The van is free - but contributions to Tenants & Neighbors to help pay for it are welcome. Click to donate.
|
|
The owners of 16 former Mitchell-Lamas have appealed the lower court ruling in the joint "Columbus 95 / Highbridge House" cases.
In the lower court, Justice Alice Schlesinger held valid DHCR's regulations that say that just leaving Mitchell-Lama is not a "unique or peculiar circumstance" that would justify a rent increase in pre-1974 buildings.
The building owners appealed to the mid-level state court for Manhattan and the Bronx, the Appellate Division, First Department. The owners filed their brief on July 12, 2010, and the Columbus 95 (Columbus House) tenants association and DHCR have until September, 8, 2010 to respond.
The Appellate Division halted ("stayed") any DHCR action on the pending "unique or peculiar" increase applications while the suit continues before that court.
Click here for a chart of the case to date.
Click on "read more" for details.
|
|
Taking Action: Protest & Keep Senators in Albany Till They Pass Tenant BIlls
|
|
Raise The Stakes!
Don't Let Our Senators Sell Out The Tenant Agenda
Three things to do! YOUR ROLE IS CRUCIAL!
- MASS PROTEST for RENT REFORM
with civil disobedience, rally and press conference. Be there!
- WHEN: Monday, July 12, 2010
arrive by 11:30 AM for an action at NOON
- WHERE: Lower End of City Hall Park
Subway: R to City Hall, 2 or 3 to Park Place, 4/5/6/ to Brooklyn Bridge. (Click on "read more" below for more details of all the planned tenant actions.)
DEMAND THAT OUR SENATE ALLIES BLOCK THE END OF SESSION UNTIL TENANT BILLS PASS.
BE ON CALL TO GO TO ALBANY whenever the Senate votes on our bills. All of these efforts are aimed at getting the NY State Senate to pass our tenant legislation. If we get word of a vote, we need tenants to be ready to go to Albany on short notice. To be on the "on-call list", email: active@metcouncil.net or any tenant advocacy group you work with.
Click on "read more" below for more information on WHY we need to act now and how to sign up.
|
|
Call your State Senator. Tell the senator:
Don't Leave Albany Without Protecting Mitchell-Lama and Rent Stabilized Tenants!
Click here for a list of buildings and scroll to the right for your state senator.
(Note: Senators Liz Krueger and Kevin Parker are working hard on this issue, so you can just thank them!)
|
|
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, an influential federal court, ruled on June 25th that HUD can prevent an owner from taking a building out of Mitchell-Lama where the result would be a loss of affordable housing.
Castleton Park, on Staten Island, is a post-1973 Mitchell-Lama - so under current state law (as opposed to federal law governing HUD - the US Department of Housing & Urban Development) it would not be rent stabilized upon leaving the Mitchell-Lama program.
The tenants, with the help of Legal Aid lawyer Ellen Davidson, went to HUD for help, arguing that letting Stellar Management (Larry Gluck)
take the building out of the program would result in a net loss of affordable housing. Gluck challenged this, and just lost. (The only
appeal is to the U.S. Supreme Court.)
Click here for the decision (or click on "read more" below for an edited version focusing on the substance of the tenants' claims).
|
|
Some housing bills may be passed in Albany on Monday, June 28, 2010 or Tuesday, June 29, 2010.
Stand up for tenant rights and expand that possibility by GOING TO ALBANY:
- Monday, June 28 - contact Michelle O'Brien at Housing Here & Now.
- Tuesday, June 29 - contact Mary Tek at Tenants & Neighbors.
Click on "read more" below for more details.
|
|
Rent Regulation is Important!
|
|
Rent regulation, like regulation of the securities or insurance industries, protects ordinary people from exploitative excesses. The real estate industry, however, would rather frame rent regulation as a "subsidy" for low-income people. In response to a June 2010 Citizens Budget Commission Report, "Rent Regulation: Beyond the Rhetoric," that does just that, two authorities have written must-read rebuttals:
|
Posted by sue on Wednesday, June 23 @ 14:23:21 CDT (84 reads)
(Read More... )
|
|
|
Rent Guidelines: 2.25% for 1-yr., 4.5% for 2-yr.
|
|
Former Mitchell-Lamas built before 1974 became rent stabilized. So they are subject to the new Rent Guidelines.
The Rent Guidelines Board ordered that for leases going into effect any time from and including October 1, 2010 through September 30, 2011, lease renewal increases will be:
- 2.25% increase for a 1-year lease renewal, and
- 4.5% increase for a 2-year lease renewal.
|
Posted by sue on Wednesday, June 16 @ 10:14:53 CDT (100 reads)
(Read More... )
|
|
|
Events: A9230 passed the Assembly Housing Committee
|
|
The Assembly's Housing Committee reported A9230 out of committee on June 15, 2010.
It has been sent to the Codes Committee, and, we hope, from there to the floor of the Assembly for a vote.
Now that A9230 has passed the Assembly's Housing Committee, we need to get it passed by the whole Assembly. Please write to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to urge that he get the bill passed. Click on "read more" below for details.
|
| |
|
