Politicians Rally for Rent Guidelines Board Reform
Some local politicians, including State Senator Daniel Squadron, Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh, and City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, held a rally yesterday morning calling for the passage of state legislation to reform the Rent Guidelines Board, which will hold its annual vote on raising rents on rent-stabilized apartments starting this week. From the press release:…
Some local politicians, including State Senator Daniel Squadron, Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh, and City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, held a rally yesterday morning calling for the passage of state legislation to reform the Rent Guidelines Board, which will hold its annual vote on raising rents on rent-stabilized apartments starting this week. From the press release: “The legislation (S741A / A6394B), sponsored by Senator Squadron and Assemblymember Kavanagh, would require City Council confirmation of the Mayor’s appointees to the RGB, bringing necessary checks and balances to the system and making the appointment process more democratic. The bill would also make more New Yorkers eligible to serve as public members and ensure that diversified views are represented on the RGB by including new professions among those qualified for appointment. Qualification for appointment would include experience in public service, philanthropy, social services, urban planning, architecture, social sciences, non-profit, finance, economics, or housing; currently, only experience in finance, economics, or housing qualifies someone for appointment.” Here’s part of Squadron’s statement at the rally: “By requiring Council approval of appointments to the RGB and broadening qualification for membership, we can create necessary accountability, ensure a variety of voices are represented on the board, and better protect the affordability that has made New York the vibrant and diverse city it is today.”
Silver-spoon Squadron, whose father got rich representing slime like Rupert Murdoch and Wedtech, is now following the typical path of pandering to the very people who in the end will be most hurt by his misguided policies.
Affordable housing is under attack in this city – not because the rents are too high – but because the profitability of operating it is so thin that maintenance and upkeep are being sacrificed. And LL are more and more forced to participate in programs that bring in problem tenants that make life miserable for all.
The RE bubble of the last few years masked the ever thinner operating margins that affordable housing is operating under. Expect to see more tenants to go without basic services and repairs over the next few years, more so if Squadron and his ilk succeed in their misguided efforts.
it’s hard to believe that people who have rent stabilized or controlled apartments have the nerve to complain about the small increases they get each year (or two).
well said.
well said.
it’s about weakening the rent guidelines board by filling it with people who don’t belong there.
“Qualification for appointment would include experience in public service, philanthropy, social services, urban planning, architecture, social sciences, non-profit…”
non-profit? philanthropy? as a rs landlord that pisses me off. we’re in a different kind of business.