State lawmakers extended rent laws for eight years yesterday, quickly restoring the system after the tenant protections had been allowed to expire for less than a day.
The Democratic-controlled Assembly caved in and passed the GOP-led state Senate’s rent legislation despite advocates’ concerns that it would gut the system.
The Assembly acted after Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno had already approved the plan proposed by Gov. Pataki in the early morning hours yesterday once the rent laws had expired.
Senate members then went home for the summer.
A bitter Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said the Assembly was forced into the “shameful” situation of either going along with Pataki’s “sneak attack” on the rent-regulation system or leaving millions of tenants uncertain and scared.
The new law continues rent protections, but contains several changes to the system – none of which is likely to have a major impact, although they could slightly hasten decontrol.
Silver also blasted Mayor Bloomberg for being “missing in action” on the issue in recent weeks.
“It’s unfortunate that he cannot speak up on behalf of the people he represents,” Silver fumed.
Bloomberg spokesman Jordan Barowitz responded, “We understand there’s a lot of frustration at the end of the session, but the mayor is pleased rent control will continue.”
Angry tenant activists blasted Silver – who unsuccessfully pushed for increased tenant protections – for being outmaneuvered in the negotiations.
“At the final moment they [Silver and the Assembly Democrats] panicked and caved in immediately. Tenants deserved better representation,” said Michael McKee, associate director of the Tenants & Neighbors Coalition.
The new law – which Pataki and Bruno defended as protecting tenants – leaves most rent protections unchanged, including the $2,000 rent threshold that allows apartments to become decontrolled after they are vacated.
But McKee predicted it will mean hundreds of thousands of rental units would be eliminated during the next eight years from the 50-year-old rent-regulation system, which protects about 1 million apartments.
About 100,000 units have been decontrolled over the last 10 years.
Even the brief expiration of the rent laws left tenants in the city worried about their homes.
At Stuyvesant Town, Elizabeth Principato, who pays $1,250 a month for her rent-stabilized apartment, said:
“That we let it get this far – that we’ve allowed the politicians responsible continue to be in office – it just confounds me.”
“To some people, my rent doesn’t sound like much, but that’s half my monthly paycheck,” said Principato.
RENT LAW: WHAT IT MEANS
* Rent law extended for eight years
* Keeps the $2,000 rent threshold that allows apartments to be unregulated once vacant.
* Continues the provision permitting decontrol if tenant income exceeds $175,000 a year and the rent is at least $2,000 a month
* Landlords charging below the legally set rent limit are allowed to boost rents up to that limit without going before the Rent Guidelines Board.
* Vacant apartments can be deregulated if the rent board sets a rate of more than $2,000 a month even if a landlord plans to charge less than that.
* The state claims jurisdiction over all changes to the rent-regulation system