REMARKS
Shekar Krishnan introduces Intro 607, 608, 609, the Back Home Act, to protect tenants
1:01:27
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124 sec
Council Member Shekar Krishnan introduces the Back Home Act (Intro 607, 608, and 609), legislation aimed at alleviating the housing crisis by ensuring tenant protections and home return mechanisms.
- Krishnan highlights the urgent need to address the housing crisis by protecting tenants from displacement and preserving affordable housing.
- The Back Home Act introduces measures to rehouse displaced tenants in their communities quickly, ensure tenants can return home post-vacate, and involve HPD in legal actions against non-complying landlords.
- Krishnan illustrates the problem with landlords converting buildings to luxury units, neglecting repairs, and displacing tenants.
- He emphasizes the importance of the legislation in keeping tenants in their homes and thanks his co-sponsors for their support.
- The act also mandates notifying tenants of their right to reoccupy their homes upon vacate order lift, preventing apartments from being rerented at higher rates.
Shekar Krishnan
1:01:27
Thank you so much, majority leader.
1:01:29
Today, I am proud to be to introduce legislation.
1:01:33
Intro 607, 608, and609, the back home act.
1:01:38
This, as we all know, the housing crisis is the most urgent crisis we face in this city.
1:01:42
And if we are to solve it, one of the most effective ways to do so is to protect tenants and to protect their homes.
1:01:47
To keep people in their homes.
1:01:49
But we see all over the city landlords deliberately destroying buildings to vacate tenants from their homes remove buildings from rent stabilization, and turn them into market rate, luxury buildings, or after large fires prolonging or delaying repairs to keep tenants out of their homes.
1:02:03
Intro 607, 608, and 609 will address this issue by doing a few different things, creating comprehensive system to get tenants back home as quickly as possible when they're vacated.
1:02:14
To make sure that when they're vacated, they are relocated in their own communities, not halfway across the city or the parts the borough, far from their schools, far from their their original home.
1:02:25
That when they're vacated, the city works with them to get back in as quickly as possible, to get their belongings.
1:02:31
Because they're vacated off in on short notice overnight with no notice whatsoever.
1:02:35
We've seen this as a housing lawyer and tenants that I've represented vacated from their homes.
1:02:39
A large fire in Jackson Heights on 89th Street before.
1:02:42
Tenants are often out in these situations for months, but really years.
1:02:46
This legislation will also require HPD to initiate legal action against the landlord if the landlord refuses to do the repairs to bring tenants home And finally, when a vacate order is lifted and tenants are able to return home, the back home acts requires that landlords notify tenants of their right to move back in and re occupy their homes and are given the ability to do so rather than apartments being rerented to other people at much higher rents.
1:03:09
This is an essential way.
1:03:11
We have solved our housing crisis.
1:03:12
I wanna thank my co sponsors who have joined us on this legislation, council members, Avalez, wrestler, brewer, Gutierrez, Shellman, Osse, and Nuvera.
1:03:24
And, again, if we already who solve this housing crisis, we must make seriously the issue of protecting tenants and their homes.
1:03:30
Thank you.