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De Blasio’s Rent Freeze For Rent-Stabilized Tenants Could Actually Be Happening
By
John Surico
Published Mar 27, 2014
Modified Mar 27, 2014
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Pratt Area Community Council's Flickr
By
John Surico
Published Mar 27, 2014
Modified Mar 27, 2014
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On the campaign trail, Bill de Blasio reinforced the "tale of two cities" appeal of his candidacy with a historic promise: to enact the legendary rent freeze of lore, one of the few weapons in the mayor's executive arsenal to intervene on behalf of struggling tenants. No mayor has utilized this before in the 45-year history of the Rent Guidelines Board but, with his four new appointees named to the Board this morning, Mayor de Blasio looks like he's pretty serious about this one.
When elected, de Blasio was given the opportunity to appoint five members of his liking to the Board, a privilege that could drastically tip the ideological scale in favor of his own policies. This nine-person panel in charge of one million New Yorkers' rents is the only governmental body that can pass the freeze, too. It's kind of like an urban version of the Supreme Court, but without Justice Scalia's decisions on pizza.
A rent freeze would halt increases in rent for one million New Yorkers living in rent-stabilized apartments, which, contrary to popular belief, still exist actually exist somewhere out there in the gray void that is the NYC real estate market. And the newcomers to the Board are reportedly much more "tenant-friendly" than their predecessors under Bloomberg, most of whom were seen as landlord allies and Bloomberg devotees, enacting the highest increases in rent since 2008 just last year (4 percent for one-year leases, 7.75 for two-years).
The incoming freshmen are as follows: Sarah Williams Willard as the rent-stabilized apartment representative, Cecelia Joza and Steven Flax as public members, and Sheila Garcia as tenant representative. De Blasio also reappointed Harvey Esptein, the only member up for reappointment that actually kept their position. Joza and Flax both come from affordable housing non-profit backgrounds, while Flax works in M&T Bank's community reinvestment department.
Their vote to increase or halt rents will occur in June, but the Board is scheduled to begin its talks at the end of this month. That gives plenty of time for Jimmy McMillan to take over the world.
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bill de blasio
de blasio's new york
rent freeze
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rent-stabilized
John Surico
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