Rich Owners 1, Rent-Stabilized Renters 0
While affordable housing advocates had reason to cheer last week with HUD’s blocking of the sale of Starrett City, they may have bigger problems in the long run from a smaller appeals court ruling that was handed down last month in the long-standing case of the East Village family that has been trying to clear…
While affordable housing advocates had reason to cheer last week with HUD’s blocking of the sale of Starrett City, they may have bigger problems in the long run from a smaller appeals court ruling that was handed down last month in the long-standing case of the East Village family that has been trying to clear an entire 15-unit building in the East Village for its personal use. Alistair and Catherine Economakis bought the building at 47 East Third Street in 2003 and told tenants that their rent-stabilized leases would not be renewed; they started eviction proceedings against the six hold-outs in December of that year. After several rounds of suits and appeals, an appellate court in Manhattan ruled in February that the clear and unambiguous provisions of both the Rent Stabilization Law and Code permit an owner to recover an unlimited number of stabilized units for personal use and occupancy without D.H.C.R. approval. The implications of this could be quite profound, it seems to us, given that there are over 200,000 rent stabilized units in Brooklyn alone. Basically, there’s a huge arbitrage play for anyone with the financial means to buy and convert a rent-stabilized building. Does anyone know if this applies by extension to rent control? If so, what about SROs? Would this remove the necessity for a Certificate of Non Harrassment in the case of personal use?
Revising the Limits on ‘Personal Use’ [NY Times]
Photo by alaspoorwho
oh, b’stoner, i love how you have nothing to say about the substance of my 10:07 post, but only wish to quibble with my attempt to clarify your original use of the word “anyone.”
what about 421-a? do you think that’s been–or ever will be–an efficient way for the city to allocate housing resources? i certainly don’t. you’ve got a link to a Post story on this topic today; you could’ve editorialized on that.
rent regulation isn’t perfect, and it’s definitely not the solution to NYC’s current lower- to moderate-income housing shortage, but it is still the only state/city system in place offering any amount of assistance to those folks. and, contrary to all the ‘free-market’ advocates on this site (who assert that rents would go down across the board if it were abolished), even economic studies commissioned by the landlords of rent-regulated buildings acknowledge that rents would go up.
and really, b’stoner, now that you’re doing this full time, could you perhaps do a little more research before you post? maybe read some housing regulations? a little real-estate law? knowledge of FAR for every lot in Brooklyn is great, but you really should’ve been able to answer the three questions at the end of your OP for yourself. just sayin’.
Still, how do you make the case for subsidizing rent control/stabilized tenants without any true means test? (i.e. someone making $150K per year with a stabilized lease of $1,000 per month). If there is going to be a rent subsidy it should go to demonstrably poor people.
Don’t forget anyone can build a new building and charge whatever rent they want.
City does not extend rent controls/RS on these apts…so how does the system inhibit new developement?
Landlords get plenty of tax breaks that are being subsidized by everyone else….i.e. depreciation allowance.
You can make some case for when system came in existence—but that was long time ago….and just about anyone making the investment in a rentregulated building knows the score when buying .
And all these rent-reg. bldgs still go up in price…so if not good investment would not be able to sell.
Obviously not the case.
re Anon 3:04
Basically true. But voucher programs have completely bombed. Ever try to get an LL to take a Section 8 voucher? You’re lucky if they call you a crackhead and slam the door on your face. Not to mention the paperwork involved.
I always thought a better rule in NY was that you couldn’t rent an apartment in a building you lived more than 2 miles away from… it’d probably encourage improvement of housing stock in run-down, absentee neighborhoods. Except (a) half the buildings in NYC aren’t owned by individuals and (b) people don’t like being told where to live (nor should they). But with a surplus of housing that’s really shitty and a huge demand for cheap housing, it seems like we ought to bring these two problems together.
Rent control and rent stabilization unfairly place the burden of subsidizing housing for low income persons on individual landlords. If you want to help a better way to do it would be to give low income people vouchers so that they could afford to pay market rent. In that manner it is the whole NYC tax base that is subsidizing housing for these folks not the individual land lords.
re supergirl
Utilities: Just electric, usually 30 or 40 bucks
Credit debt: No more than 10 bucks or so every month
Student loans: Very little (nothing I have to pay off for quite awhile)
Savings: Slowly growing, but quite small. Enough to live through any medium-level emergency.
Parental assistance: see above.
I mean, it’s pretty much hand-to-mouth, but I’m getting by. I’ve got good financial aid, so tuition is basically limited to books (used) and random fees (a pain in the ass).
I mean, what’s the latest stat on how many NYers spend more than 40% on rent? There’s more than a couple of us. We just eat ramen and don’t have that much fun. And some months I ride my bike instead of the subway (8 miles, not recommended in winter…) When I lived in Boston, I just jumped the turnstile or snuck in through the back gate pretty much every day, but the MTA makes it tougher, so exercise it is.
It beats Canarsie, anyway.
Re Anonymous at March 5, 2007 12:04 PM
…”at least 2 years. Furthermore the law doesn’t makes exceptions for renters that are over 65″….
If I’m not mistaken (and maybe I am), I think it’s a five year minimum, and that you cannot evict any occupant over 62 years of age, in the case of RS. In the case of RC, the same applies, plus if an occupant has occupied the apt for over 20 years, he or she also cannot be evicted.
Investor w/moral compass,
“I don’t think that just because I can buy a property means I should have the right to displace people.”
Just out of curiosity, do you feel the same about hotel rooms? If you pay $250 for the right to sleep in a room at the Marriott for a night, and open the door to find someone else there, do you feel that you do not have the right to displace those people? Why or why not? If ownership does not give you the right to possess, what is the actual point?
My own $.02 about RC/RS:
It is essentially a subsidy from newly arriving New Yorkers to New Yorkers who have been here a long time. RC/RS drives up the cost of a new rental and a new purchase, but keeps down the costs of apartments which have been occupied a long time.
One of the biggest problems that I see with RC/RS is that the rent increases are based on a percentage of the rent, rather than a fixed amount per room (with perhaps some adjustments for location), so that someone paying a very low rent can only have it raised by a miniscule, which ultimately results in rents which are totally absurd, like the $49/mo 2BR I saw in Brooklyn Heights.
Ultimately, if society thinks that certain people deserve to pay a reduced rent, society should pay the difference itself, rather than shucking the expense off on someone else.
Shoot,
Since you’re paying close to 40% of your salary on rent (does this include utilities?), I hope a) that you don’t have any credit debt, b)don’t have any student loans, c)are putting some % to savings.
I’m assuming you also aren’t getting any parental assistance?
Middle-Class Renter:
I’m broke. Could you please pay my electric and gas bill? C’mon, you’re a champion of the little guy, right? Just front me a couple a hundred a month for the next five years, kay? Can you swing it?