Progressives in the state Legislature aren’t done damaging the city’s housing market — indeed, they’re now aiming to slam the entire state.
They’re looking to impose universal rent control — subjecting every Empire State apartment to rules that say that rent hikes are “unreasonable” if they exceed 3 percent, or one-and-a-half times the inflation rate.
The “Good Cause Eviction” bill would prohibit landlords from evicting tenants in nearly every market-rate apartment without first showing “good cause.” Tenants could fight evictions if they say they can’t pay such an “unreasonable” rent.
Right now, roughly a million apartments in the city, all in buildings that went up before 1973, are rent-regulated; this would effectively extend it to 2 million units — and anything built in the future.
More, the limits would be harsher: For example, the (Mayor Bill de Blasio-controlled) city Rent Guidelines Board last year estimated that rent hikes of 4.75 percent were needed to let landlords keep up with their rising costs.
The Legislature last year made it harder for landlords to cover their costs for modernizing rent-stabilized units and buildings, a reform that’s already forcing them to take hundreds of apartments off the market. This new legislation is guaranteed to prompt rapid deterioration in buildings that are now high-quality, by forcing landlords to cut their spending on maintenance and repairs.
They can call it “Good Cause,” but the results would be disaster.