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Q&A
Council Member Restler questions HPD on rent stabilization and affordable housing loss
2:07:19
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172 sec
Council Member Lincoln Restler presents data on the net loss of rent-stabilized units in New York City over the past 30 years, questioning how this aligns with the administration's claims of record-breaking affordable housing starts. He asks Acting Commissioner Ahmed Tigani about HPD's role in the Rent Guidelines Board process and advocacy for tenants' needs.
- Tigani explains that rent regulation oversight begins at the state level with the Office of Rent Administration
- HPD contributes by creating rent-stabilized apartments through their regulated and subsidized units
- The department works on tenant protection through anti-harassment efforts, enforcement, and outreach
- HPD provides information and support to tenants at various stages, including during temporary relocations due to emergencies
Lincoln Restler
2:07:19
According to the Rent Guidelines Board, since 1994, the first year of which the Rent Guidelines Board has data, a total of at least 185,000 units have been added to the rent stabilization system, while at least 338,000 rent stabilized rent stabilized units have been deregulated for an estimated net loss of a 53 rent thousand rent stabilized units over the past thirty years.
2:07:45
In 2023, at least another 9,694 housing units left rent stabilization and approximately 5,524 units entered the stabilization system.
2:07:56
Again, net loss of approximately 4,000 units.
2:08:00
All of this is to show that despite the administration's record breaking affordable housing starts, chair's words, the net loss of affordable housing is much greater, much much greater.
2:08:11
And any record breaking year for preservation will take place in a context of net losses of rent stabilization that dwarf the administration's progress.
2:08:23
Beyond mayoral appointments, as, you know, as the HBD commissioner, how do you and your team weigh in on the rent guidelines board celebrations, and how can we better advocate for the needs of tenants through this process?
Ahmed Tigani
2:08:41
So I'll just quickly say that the place that this starts with is at the state level that oversees rent regulations.
2:08:47
So the Office of Rent Administration is where sort of the regulatory and enforcement work of protecting rent stabilized apartments begins, but HPD obviously is part of this in a number of different ways.
2:09:00
Contribute to creating a broader swath of rent stabilized apartments in the units that we regulate and subsidize subject to rent stabilization.
2:09:11
We are also working through the anti harassment unit and our enforcement team and our outreach work to make sure that tenants, before something happens, knows where to go to and who to go to, about questions that come up, about their status, how they get information about their units and status with the State Department.
2:09:31
And then after a fact, as an example, if something horrific happens when there is a vacate due to fire, our emergency housing services case managers are giving them information about how to codify with the state their rent stabilized status, which is something that you do when you're temporarily relocated.
2:09:51
We're trying to figure out all the different points in the system from the beginning toward the beginning including points temporarily removed and how to protect your status.
2:10:02
And I think the 2019 laws went a long way to provide new tools for tenants and advocates to protect them, and that's been part of our education.
2:10:10
I think