The Community Service Society published "Destabilized Rents: The Impact of Vacancy Decontrol on Low-Income Communities" in June 2009.

Written by Tom Waters and Victor Bach, senior housing analysts at CSS, the policy brief includes the fact that only about 15% of the tenants in post-1973 buildings coming out of Mitchell-Lama would be eligible for enhanced vouchers.

Victor Bach and Tom Waters, housing analysts at the Community Service Society, have written several useful reports, listed below.

Making the Rent '08 Report

Closing the Door '08 Report

Where is the Property Relief for Struggling Renters?

Destabilized Rents: The Impact of Vacancy Decontrol

For earlier reports, see:

Closing the Door 2007

Closing the Door 2006

and

Making the Rent 2002-2005.

Re: Pre-1974 rental developments:

Building owners claim that just leaving Mitchell-Lama is a "unique or peculiar circumstance" under the Emergency Tenant Protection Act that would justify raising rents to market rate. While NYS's Division of Housing & Community Renewal (DCHR) passed regulations to the contrary, closing that loophole, owners Larry Gluck of Stellar Management and Steven Witkoff of Witkoff Realty among others have brought law suits against those regulations.

What happens to us depends on how the state's courts interpret the law, as landlords appeal the new regulations - and whether the newly-Democratic-majority State Legislature passes new legislation. As of now:

• Pre-March 10,1969 rental buildings go into rent stabilization on leaving Mitchell-Lama. The Court of Appeals ruled that landlords may apply to the NY State Division of Housing and Community Renewal for an increase in the starting rent stabilized rents -- without saying such increases would be granted. November 2007 state regulations bar increases just for taking a building out of Mitchell-Lama. (Two major New York City landlords are challenging the regulations in court. See article below.)

• Developments built between March 10, 1969 and Jan. 1, 1974 go into rent stabilization but -- depending on what the courts say about the DHCR regulations adopted November 21, 2007 -- all of their apartments are either protected by the new regulations or could still face those potentially huge increases based on "unique and peculiar circumstances."
  (Buildings with federal mortgage subsidies have "enhanced vouchers" to contend with. See the FAQ section.)

  Click on "read more" below for information about Mitchell-Lama rental buildings built from 1974 on.

Re: Buildings built from 1974 on: While tenants in the pre-1974 buildings must keep paying lawyers thousands of dollars to protect their homes, the most vulnerable buildings were built from Jan. 1, 1974 on because they are allowed to go to market rate on leaving Mitchell-Lama -- leaving the tenants facing eviction, or short-term government subsidies to postpone steeper increases. In some cases strong tenant associations have been able to negotiate "landlord assistance plans" to keep their homes affordable.