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New York Post
5 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Don't fall for the rent-freeze demagogues — they'll make NY's housing squeeze WORSE
Left-wing mayoral candidates and a newly launched 'housing justice' pressure group are dangling the promise of a multi-year rent freeze for the city's nearly one million rent-regulated units. That's more than half the rental apartments in Gotham. It's a cynical political strategy: Pander to a segment of single-issue voters almost too large to resist — and capture the mayoralty. Advertisement Actually implementing that freeze would turn the entire city into a slum of dilapidated and abandoned buildings, forcing thousands of occupants to live in squalor in un-maintained apartments. And it could happen. Just look at the electoral math. Advertisement In New York City, occupants of rent-stabilized apartments — about 1.7 million people living in about 980,000 units — outnumber renters in unregulated apartments. If these rent-regulation beneficiaries are mobilized as single-issue voters, they can swing an election. Barely a million people voted in the 2021 mayoral primary, and just over 1.1 million in the general. Leftist candidates are not leaving it to chance. Advertisement Zohran Mamdani, Brad Lander and Jessica Ramos have all committed to freezing rents if they're elected. 'Tenants are a majority and it's time we had a mayor who acted like it,' Mamdani says. He's calculating that this one voting bloc can carry him to victory. New York State Tenant Bloc, the new pressure group launched by the lefty nonprofit Housing Justice for All, is making the same calculation statewide. Advertisement 'There are over 9 million tenants in New York,' its website declares. 'There's millions more tenants than there are landlords. We have the power to break the real estate industry's grip on our lives by uniting as a bloc.' 'Freeze the Rent!' — plastered on scarlet signs reminiscent of Communist China's flag — is the group's battle cry. Cornell professor Russell Weaver, who teaches courses in 'equitable community change,' calls tenants the 'sleeping giant' in future elections. Some are already awake: Assemblywoman Sarahana Shrestha, a Democratic Socialist representing the Hudson Valley, credits activist tenant voters for her own win in 2022. Now she's sponsoring the REST Act, which would permit towns and cities in all parts of the state to impose rent caps. Current law limits rent stabilization to New York City and downstate counties, unless a town performs a costly study to prove low vacancy rates — a requirement that has kept Poughkeepsie and Kingston from capping rents. Shrestha rants that 'tenants are half the state' and should vote as a bloc to throttle 'price-gouging landlords.' Advertisement But before falling for this demagoguery, New Yorkers need to know the brutal consequences of rent regulations and rent freezes. The nine members of the city's Rent Guidelines Board — all mayoral appointees — set permissible rent hikes on rent-regulated apartments once a year. Succumbing to political pressure, the RGB generally sets hikes at about half the inflation rate — so building owners facing rising property taxes and higher labor, energy and water costs get consistently shortchanged. Advertisement Eventually, many let their properties fall into disrepair, allow dilapidated units to sit vacant — or abandon their buildings altogether. With older housing stock crumbling and fewer units available, a housing shortage is inevitable. Sean Campion, the Citizens Budget Commission's housing expert, testified to the RGB this year that a significant share of buildings is heading into this maintenance 'death spiral.' That's the damage already caused by rent regulation — even before the leftists' threatened freeze. Advertisement Nationwide, rents in metro areas have fallen for 19 consecutive months — except, that is, in New York City, where the supply squeeze sends rents on unregulated units soaring. Denver, the metro area where rents are falling fastest, has no rent regulation. Colorado state law forbids it. That's what New York state should do. Advertisement What about helping the poor? Rent regulation doesn't accomplish that. Scoring a rent-regulated apartment requires no means testing. You need luck, sharp elbows — and often a wad of cash to buy your way in. Occupants of rent-regulated apartments — call them privileged renters — tend to have somewhat smaller incomes, but are also generally adults without kids. Families with young children, who need rent breaks the most to remain in the city, are less apt to luck out, according to the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development. A fair system would provide assistance based on need — funded by all taxpayers, not only by building owners. New York doesn't command certain grocery stores to sell food at below-market prices to the needy. The taxpayer-funded SNAP program is there for that purpose. Rent regulation rewards pandering politicians, not the poor. That's why it survives. The radical calls for a rent freeze are a red flag that New Yorkers risk being crushed — steamrolled — by a mobilized bloc of voters looking out only for themselves. Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York and co-founder of the Committee to Save Our City.
New York Times
06-03-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Brad Lander Would Declare Housing Emergency if Elected N.Y.C. Mayor
Declare a state of emergency because of New York City's housing crisis. Build 50,000 homes on public golf courses. Triple subsidies for affordable housing. These are a few of Brad Lander's ideas to address the housing crisis if he is elected mayor in November, according to a 30-page housing plan he is set to announce Thursday. Mr. Lander, the city comptroller, joins several other mayoral candidates who hope to woo voters with ambitious plans to make the city more affordable. Many of his plan's components, like increasing housing subsidies, would be costly. Others, like development on golf courses, are likely to encounter resistance from people living nearby. But Mr. Lander, a Democrat, hopes his years of urban planning and political experience will help him navigate the many logistical and political challenges. As a City Council member, he helped push through the redevelopment of Brooklyn's Gowanus neighborhood, where thousands of homes are being built today. 'This is the work of my adult life,' Mr. Lander said in an interview. 'I will be the best-prepared housing mayor.' The housing crisis has become one of the biggest issues in the mayor's race, with candidates trying to outdo one another through lofty promises to make the city more affordable. Rents are at some of the highest levels ever and are poised to go up even more. The share of apartments that are affordable and available to rent is, according to the most recent figures, at a 50-year low. The situation is fueling homelessness, pushing working-class people out of the city and threatening to upend New York's economy. 'Housing is the top issue for New Yorkers across the political spectrum,' said Cea Weaver, the campaign coordinator for Housing Justice for All, a tenants' group that is urging candidates to limit rent increases for rent-stabilized homes. Mayors have a lot of influence over housing policy. They appoint people to boards that govern the city's public housing system and regulate rent-stabilized apartments and weigh in on new development. They push legislation, shape the city budget and seek support for the city from the state and federal government. Mr. Lander said declaring a state of emergency on his first day in office will allow him to increase funding for housing-focused agencies and eliminate time-consuming budget office reviews of certain affordable housing deals. He said he will convene a 'citizens assembly' — a representative group of New York City residents — to quickly come up with ways to make housing development faster and simpler. And Mr. Lander, like several other candidates, is hoping to push a citywide plan for development, instead of individual neighborhood plans. He acknowledged that some of his biggest ideas will require changes to the City Charter. Luckily, he said, Mayor Eric Adams has already created a charter revision commission focused on housing that has the power to put ballot proposals before voters. Mr. Lander said he plans to present ideas to the panel next month. Many candidates agree on increasing development, but differ in their approaches. The golf course idea Mr. Lander proposed is part of his plan to build 500,000 additional homes, both affordable and market-rate, over the next 10 years. Mr. Adams, who has backed zoning changes that make it easier to build citywide, is targeting a similar number and wants to focus on apartments that are big enough for families. Zellnor Myrie, a progressive state senator, has called for one million new homes to be built over the next decade, including thousands in residential areas 'sandwiched' between industrial parts of the city. State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, said in his housing plan that he wants to spend $100 billion to help build 200,000 affordable homes over the next 10 years. Curtis Sliwa, a Republican candidate for mayor, also wants more homes, though he wants to focus on small landlords. Annemarie Gray, the executive director of Open New York, a pro-development nonprofit, said, 'The fact that nearly every mayoral candidate is prioritizing the need for more housing shows just how much the conversation has shifted.' She added, 'There's now broad agreement that the only way to bring down costs for New Yorkers is to build a lot more homes — and fast.' Several candidates, particularly those on the left, also emphasize policies that benefit renters. Mr. Mamdani, State Senator Jessica Ramos and former State Assemblyman Michael Blake have all said they would support a rent freeze in the roughly one million rent-stabilized homes in the city. Scott Stringer, a former city comptroller, said he would seize neglected apartment buildings and transfer them to 'responsible developers.' Mr. Lander said he wants to expand funding for lawyers who represent tenants in housing court. Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said he wants to 'enhance enforcement of rent-stabilization laws to prevent illegal rent hikes and landlord harassment.' The next mayor will also have to deal with New York City's vast public housing system, which needs tens of billions of dollars worth of repairs and upgrades. The election of President Trump, who has spoken critically about public housingyes, puts even more pressure on the mayor to find local fixes.
