Coalition Launches to Protect the Rights of New York’s Landlords and Tenants
- Posted By: Kelly Pierce
- Category Featured, Legal Updates
UNDER ONE ROOF Coalition Launches to Protect the Rights of New York’s Landlords and Tenants
The statewide coalition is urging state lawmakers to address the unintended consequences of the Housing Stability & Tenant Protection Act of 2019 that hurt tenants and landlords and stifle economic growth
ALBANY – A diverse group of individual landlords and small business owners have joined forces to create UNDER ONE ROOF (www.underoneroofny.org), a new statewide coalition aimed at protecting the rights of individual landlords and tenants and advancing regional and statewide economic development. The coalition will make an aggressive advocacy push during the upcoming Legislative session in Albany.
The Housing Stability & Tenant Protection Act of 2019 was signed into law only three days after it was introduced in the State Legislature, failing to provide enough time for lawmakers and the public to fully understand the negative impact this law has on all New Yorkers. Now, UNDER ONE ROOF is advocating for changes to the law and calling on state lawmakers to address the unintended consequences of this law on individual landlords, apartment owners, property management companies, while creating new challenges and uncertainties in the housing market for tenants and stifling our state’s economic growth.
Simply put, this law stifles regional and statewide economic development. New York’s rental apartment industry plays a vital role in economic vitality, providing millions of New Yorkers with affordable and flexible housing options and supporting tens of thousands of jobs. But underthis law, manylongtime property owners are being forced to consider selling their housing or being deterred from making new investments and expanding their property portfolios. The construction of new apartments across upstate communities and on Long Island has boosted local economic growth, but as longtime property owners leave the market, developers are less interested in new apartment construction. And with the state’s historic investments to revitalize and redevelop our downtowns, we can’t afford to stop providing access to quality and flexible housing options.
This law hurts both individual landlords and tenants by instituting new confusing, duplicative and expensive processes for business owners, which, in turn, limits tenants’ access to quality and affordably priced housing options. Many responsible landlords are already operating with slim profit margins, and under this law these margins will only continue to diminish. Facing new burdensome regulatory requirements, individual landlords won’t have the necessary capital to reinvest in their building through upgrades or regular maintenance, resulting in a lower quality of life for many New Yorkers. And with a more competitive market and an increase in the cost of doing business, it is likely that costs of renting an apartment will increase. In short, costs will continue to rise for tenants as their quality of life decreases.
UNDER ONE ROOF coalition members include: New York Capital Region Apartment Association (NYCRAA), National Apartment Association, Unshackle Upstate, Buffalo Niagara Partnership, Chemung Landlords Association, Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce, Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) Chapter 58, Capital Region Chamber, Park Avenue Landlord Association (Rochester), Glendale Communities, WEBB Rentals, LLC and Community Housing Improvement Program.
“I’m proud to provide quality and affordably priced housing options to my neighbors, but this burdensome law makes it challenging for me to continue to do business in New York State. We’re calling on our statewide lawmakers to address the unintended consequences of this law and stand up for the rights of tenants, landlords and small business owners and protect the investments we’ve made in our local communities,” said Deb Pusatere, President of New York Capital Region Apartment Association (NYCRAA) and a Capital Region based landlord.
"Leaders in Albany should be advancing policies that support economic development and growing communities throughout New York. Unfortunately, these new regulations will stifle those efforts, adding new burdens on landlords and small business owners and hurt tenants. We are proud to work with the UNDER ONE ROOF coalition to advance common-sense solutions to improve the housing climate in Upstate and across New York for everyone,” said Michael Kracker, Executive Director of Unshackle Upstate.
“While Upstate and Downstate have unique economic concerns, building owners across the state share the same values of providing safe affordable housing to their tenants. CHIP and it’s 4,000 members fully support efforts to push back against bad housing policy that erodes owners’ ability to provide quality housing and pledges to work with UNDER ONE ROOF to protect property rights and tenant access to quality housing,” said Jay Martin, Executive Director of the Community Housing Improvement Program.
UNDER ONE ROOF supports New Yorkers living in rental apartments and those who own and operate them. The coalition works to protect New Yorkers' access to quality housing, increase the economic impact of rental properties and foster growth in the rental housing industry statewide. Together, we’re invested in improving the apartment industry for all.