Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Happy Thanksgiving!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING  !

Photo by Irene Steeves from Flickr
downloaded with permission


Today  - among the other things in our lives - we can be thankful for . . .

  • Having a roof over our heads,
  • Being part of a strong tenant association that has kept rents affordable for those in stabilization and is working to get rents affordable for market rate tenants,
  • Having wonderful friends and a community of support in the building and the neighborhood, and
  • Having something to eat.

From the Executive Committee of the 
Central Park Gardens Tenants' Association
Sue Susman, president
Jodi Brockington, vice president
Denis Hayward, secretary
Pat Jordan, vice president
Steve Koulish, vice president and 
Ray von Dohren, vice president

New Regulations do more than just regulate "Frankensteined" apartments

DHCR published new regulations effective November 8, 2023.  In addition to regulating what the first rent can be in combined apartments (and making them rent stabilized if any original part was stabilized),  the new regulations do a few more things that we all need:

1. They clarify succession rights where the tenant named on the lease moved out but continued to sign lease renewals or paid the rent.  The new regulations define "permanently vacated" as when the tenant of record actually permanently moved out (regardless of signing lease renewals or paying rent).

2. They bar the landlord from collecting any rent increase for a rent stabilized apartment where the landlord hasn't filed the annual registration for that apartment.  Where DHCR reminds the landlord to file and it still doesn't happen, the landlord will be fined $500 per month for each such apartment. 


Sunday, October 29, 2023

New Regulations on "Frankensteining" May Discourage "Warehousing" apartments

The NYS housing agency just made official a new regulation that sets the "first rent" when apartments are combined to create a whole new apartment. That practice, known as "Frankensteining," has been used to evade rent stabilization rules and may be one reason that Stellar is refusing to rent out 12 (by last count) empty rent stabilized apartments in our building. 

So limiting rents on Frankensteined apartments and keeping the new units rent stabilized may well discourage landlord warehousing of vacant stabilized apartments.

Our tenant association is part of Stellar Tenants for Affordable Housing, a member of the Coalition to End Apartment Warehousing.  Here's what the Coalition had to say about the new regulation:

 Coalition to End Apartment Warehousing Wins
New Regulations That Retain Affordable Housing
for New York City

The new NYS Homes and Community Renewal regulations are a good start, but
state bills need to be signed by Governor Hochul now to make the changes more
comprehensive and permanent


New York, NY — With a lot of hard work, testifying, and campaigning, the Coalition to End Apartment Warehousing, a New York City tenant and advocacy group, has helped win new regulations at the New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) agency to close a loophole in the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA). The new regulations — which take effect November 8 — will enable New York City to retain more of its affordable, rent-regulated housing. We urge Governor Hochul to sign S2980/A6216 to make the changes more comprehensive and permanent.

Through that loophole in the HSTPA, owners have been able to set a new, market-rate first rent on rent-stabilized homes by combining adjacent, formerly affordable, regulated apartments into single large “Frankensteined” monsters at sky-high rents.  

The loophole has encouraged landlords to warehouse vacant rent-regulated apartments —sometimes for years — in the hope of Frankensteining them later when an adjacent apartment becomes empty.

In one building, for example, an empty stabilized apartment (rent: about $850 a month) was combined with an unregulated market-rate apartment directly above it (rent: about $3,000 a month). The result was a duplex apartment advertised on Streeteasy.com for $13,000 per month and the removal of yet another affordable apartment from New York City’s housing stock.

The practice of Frankensteining — combining separate, adjacent apartments into one single larger apartment — has made an untold number of affordable apartments unavailable throughout the city.

Frankensteining has converted almost entire buildings in stable, affordable communities into extremely high-rent buildings, often with a rotating cast of tenants who cannot afford to stay long term.

Estimates from the city and others put the range of warehoused, vacant rent-stabilized apartments in New York City anywhere from 13,000 to 60,000 — with all of those apartments sitting empty during an unprecedented housing crisis. (Unfortunately and shamefully, the city and state don’t maintain accurate data on rent-regulated apartment vacancies.)

Tenant Sue Susman of Stellar Tenants for Affordable Housing said, “These new regulations may make a big difference in my building where the landlord is keeping 13 rent-stabilized apartments off the market — and has already Frankensteined 4 others. So many people need those affordable homes, and most of the vacant apartments need little more than a coat of paint.”

Cooper Square Committee organizer Jodie Leidecker said, “It’s a shame that it’s taken almost five years since the passage of the HSTPA to close this loophole, and countless truly affordable apartments have been permanently lost to high rents. It’s not a case of too little too late, but when we talk about preservation, this was an obvious no-brainer. Most buildings I’ve worked with since the passage of the HSTPA have experienced Frankensteining. We hope these rules help tenants in mostly affordable rent-stabilized apartments feel slightly more protected from predatory real estate interests instead of just being sitting ducks.”

In response to the ongoing advocacy of the Coalition to End Apartment Warehousing and other tenants and tenant groups, New York State’s housing agency proposed these regulations, and they should make a difference. The new regulations, which clarify the HSTPA’s intent, say that the new rent of a Frankensteined apartment must be the last legal rents added together  (plus any “individual apartment increases” capped at $85 over 15 years and normal Rent Guidelines Board increases). So that $13,000 rent seen above would be more like $5,000, and the apartment would stay rent stabilized.

Moreover, landlords who created those vacancies by harassing tenants out, or by fraud or evasion, may be entitled to no increase at all.

Tenant Edward Ratliff from East 26th Street: “These regulations can potentially really help our city have more affordable, regulated apartments. Unfortunately, the changes come too late for my building, where a large percentage of the affordable apartments have already been lost to Frankensteining.”

By discouraging Frankensteining, the new regulations will preserve existing affordable housing in the midst of the one of the greatest housing shortages New York has ever seen.

We thank the many tenants who worked hard to demand these changes, and we are glad the New York State Homes and Community Renewal enacted these long overdue new regulations.

#####

Sunday, October 8, 2023

Rally this Thursday at noon - and Call/Email the Governor!


RALLY THIS THURSDAY OCT. 12 at NOON

Join Central Park Gardens tenants going to 

633 Third Avenue, between 40th & 41st Street.  

We’ll meet at 11:15 in the lobby here.

 

and

CALL or EMAIL GOV. HOCHUL

Urge her to sign 4 bills* that will

·      End Frankensteining by keeping combined apts. affordable! 

·      Fairly calculate rent overcharges.

·      Ease housing surveys to let upstate areas get rent stabilization

·      Expose secret landlords hiding behind LLCs (limited liability corporations).


Read the Memo we're delivering to the Governor and watch the video

Monday, October 2, 2023

Link to order your car from the garage


Click here to order your car in advance: 

This is a workaround, since all the rent stabilized tenants in the building who park cars in the garage are listed under the account of ONE of us.  That has made it tough to ask for your car in advance. 



Monday, September 18, 2023

Urge Gov. Hochul to sign tenant bills NOW!


There are 4 tenant bills that  Gov. Hochul needs to sign lickety split.  Check out the video!

Call Gov. Hochul's office. Click here to do it through your computer, or just dial 
518-474-8390. You can email her too. Tell her, 

Tenants need you to sign S2980, A4047, A6843 and A 3484 to keep more rent stabilized apartments available

    • at honest rents 
    • by landlords known to their tenants, and 
    • enable more municipalities to decide whether they want the same. 

Please sign them as soon as they cross your desk! Thank you. 


and

Join Housing Justice for All, the Coalition to End Apartment Warehousing, Stellar Tenants for Affordable Housing and other groups at a 

Rally to Urge Gov. Hochul to Sign the Bills!

  • S2980 (Frankensteining, fraud, subst. rehab, succession)
  • A4047 (calculate rent overcharges going forward)
  • A6843 (landlords must respond to vacancy surveys so municipalities can decide whether to join rent stabilization)
  • A3484 (transparency for limited liability corporations)
image.png

Wear a Frankenstein costume (or not), and let's urge the Governor to sign those bills when they cross her desk! 

SUMMARY OF THE SEPT. 14, 2023 MEETING

Tenants and a few neighbors gathered to hear State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal's report on Albany and some important bills, and Council Member Gale Brewer's updates on City Council actions.  

Announcements

We began by talking about Frank Leonardo, whose memorial will be in Community Room on Sunday, October 15th from 2 to 5 p.m.  Please let his wife Barbara Garson know if you're planning to attend.

We also announced:

  • Our annual Halloween fundraiser will be on Saturday, October 28 in the lobby.  Volunteers are needed for the 5-6 pm slot, and your gifts of individually wrapped candy is welcome. Leave it with the doorman for Rosa Delgado in 2T.
  • The US Supreme Court will likely decide in the next couple of weeks whether to take the case of landlords claiming that rent regulation "takes" their property without compensation.  In the past, all 9 justices (including Clarence Thomas and the late Antonin Scalia - the Court's most conservative justices), ruled that states can regulate property use including by rent regulation. 
  • NYC is funding some more "Shape Up NYC!" classes, like those that Jodi Brockington taught before the pandemic.  We may get 2 classes: one strenuous one evening, and another less strenuous, possible during the day. (She will not be teaching them.)
  • The Park West History Group is planning an evening on how tenants have shaped our buildings and neighborhood. If you have old documents from this building - particularly about our getting a tax break early on - please let Sue know: sue.susman [at ] gmail.com.
  • HEAT season begins Oct. 1 and runs through May 31. 






Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal

Pending legislation

Brad spoke about 4 bills that have passed the state legislature but await Governor Hochul's action: signing, modifying, or vetoing. Our tenant association has submitted a memo on three of them