Was just reading this piece last night-rent control is flat out problematic. It would be an epic mistake to increase/broaden that tool. I’ve seen it first hand financing the four towers that Ruby Schron owns (or did a number of years back) that sit above the GW Bridge. Looks up Cammebys which is the guys entity. It’s coming, urban planning, land use and the federal reserve playing around with rates from 1990-2021 which are the problems.kramerica.inc wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 12:17 am The Housing Stability Act worked so well at jacking up rent prices and creating a housing shortage in NYC, The braintrust wants to implement a federal version.
Sen Warren- Watching out for your hard-earned wampum:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/biden-ro ... 46254.html
But Warren moved from well intentioned to populist ass sucker years ago. Bit of a hypocrite too, her seat should’ve gone to someone else at some point in her academic career but she leaned into a fairly fraudulent image she helped create.
https://therealdeal.com/2023/01/25/surv ... ed_article
More rent-stabilized decay on the way: survey
CHIP poll shows where landlords are cutting corners
New York
Jan. 25, 2023 08:45 AM
A photo illustration of CHIP's Jay Martin (Getty, CHIP)
CHIP’s Jay Martin (Getty, CHIP)
It’s no secret that owners of rent-stabilized properties have had a tough time funding repairs.
Facing restrictions on rent increases in the 2019 rent law and rising operating costs, landlords claim they have had to warehouse tens of thousands of units because they can’t afford to fix them up.
A new survey by the Community Housing Improvement Program of its 3,700 owner members revealed where they have cut corners.
Three out of four reported cutting back on essential building-wide repairs, such as a roof or boiler replacement, since the rent law passed. Nearly 90 percent said they had forgone kitchen or bathroom renovations.
Just over half decided against revamping their buildings’ security systems to include cameras or video intercoms or adding storage lockers for deliveries to thwart porch pirates.
Efficiency upgrades have also been pushed to the back burner. Over 40 percent of respondents said they would not replace lighting with LED fixtures that use 90 percent less energy — a budget saver for tenants.
A quarter said they opted against installing fuel computers, which better regulate heat and hot water systems and reduce a building’s energy consumption.
And among owners who have cobbled together the cash to refurbish buildings, many blame citywide delays for preventing them from starting.
The city’s Department of Buildings requires permits for any renovation that involves plumbing, electrical or construction work, as Brick Underground explained. But with the Adams administration beset by staff shortages, 85 percent of owners said it had taken significantly longer to secure them.
“This survey highlights the difficult choices that property owners are forced to make as a result of a perfect storm created by regulatory changes, pandemic-driven inflation and an understaffed government,” CHIP’s executive director, Jay Martin, said in a statement.
The results also underscore the tradeoff for tenants under rent stabilization. The law’s reform in 2019 eliminated the 20 percent rent hike allowed when stabilized units became unoccupied.
It also prevented landlords from using rent hikes to recoup more than $15,000 in apartment renovation costs over a 15-year period. For major capital improvements such as a new boiler, the annual rent increase can now be no more than 2 percent.
These provisions have kept rents down. But a new boiler for a building as small as 10 units can cost $50,000, so landlords have been putting off such upgrades — and complaints about cold apartments are up 25 percent this year citywide.
Four out of five landlords reported their average operating expenses jumped 15 percent since 2019, a survey of the Community Housing Improvement Program’s 3,700 owner members revealed. During that period, the Rent Guidelines Board allowed rent hikes totaling only 6.25 percent.
To correct course, CHIP has asked that owners be allowed a one-time rent increase to market rate once a tenant vacates a unit.
The group has been working on suggested bill language for the proposal, but nothing has been introduced in the state legislature. Tenant advocates have opposed the idea, saying landlords should fund renovations from profits earned before the 2019 law.