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Mitchell-Lamas' Jeopardy - Not Fully Resolved by the Governor
Thousands of Mitchell-Lama apartments in New York City -- created by a wonderfully successful NYS middle-income housing program -- are facing extinction. This website primarily concerns rentals. If you want to keep your Mitchell-Lama co-op in the program, contact Co-operators United For Mitchell-Lama.
Re: Pre-1974 rental developments: Building owners claim that just leaving Mitchell-Lama is a "unique or peculiar circumstance" under the Emergency Tenant Protection Act that would justify raising rents to market rate. While NYS's Division of Housing & Community Renewal (DCHR) passed regulations to the contrary, closing that loophole, owners Larry Gluck of Stellar Management and Steven Witkoff of Witkoff Realty have brought law suits against those regulations.
What happens to us depends on how the state's courts interpret the law, as landlords appeal the new regulations. As of now:
- Pre-March 10,1969 rental buildings go into rent stabilization on leaving Mitchell-Lama. The Court of Appeals ruled that landlords may apply to the NY State Division of Housing and Community Renewal for an increase in the starting rent stabilized rents -- without saying such increases would be granted. November 2007 state regulations bar increases just for taking a building out of Mitchell-Lama. (Two major New York City landlords are challenging the regulations in court. See article below.)
- Developments built between March 10, 1969 and Jan. 1, 1974 go into rent stabilization but -- depending on what the courts say about the DHCR regulations adopted November 21, 2007 -- all of their apartments are either protected by the new regulations or could still face those potentially huge increases based on "unique and peculiar circumstances."
(Buildings with federal mortgage subsidies have "enhanced vouchers" to contend with. See the FAQ section.)
The new regulations, if they stand up to court appeal, may save thousands of apartments of New York City's stock of affordable housing. This is the result of the work of hundreds of tenants and tenant advocates. You can thank Commissioner Deborah Van Amerongen and urge her and Governor David Paterson to support legislation to make these changes permanent (statutes have more authority than regulations).
Re: Buildings built from 1974 on:
While tenants in the pre-1974 buildings must keep paying lawyers thousands of dollars to protect their homes, the most vulnerable buildings were built from Jan. 1, 1974 on because they are allowed to go to market rate on leaving Mitchell-Lama -- leaving the tenants facing eviction, or short-term government subsidies to postpone steeper increases. In some cases strong tenant associations have been able to negotiate "landlord assistance plans" to keep their homes affordable.
This home page has the most recent announcements and articles. Click on the various categories on the right side for additional material.
- The CALENDAR includes events regarding affordable housing.
- To find your legislators and learn more about your building and its history, click on "FIND YOUR BUILDING" here or on the right panel.
- Find tenant association resources -- including
- "TAKING ACTION" suggests what we can do, and
- "EVENTS" is a record of coming and past events in the Affordable Housing movement.
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City Limits reports that owners are taking fewer buildings out of Mitchell-Lama - since they cannot get loans to pay the mortgages in full and deal with higher taxes while they wait for rent regulated tenants to leave.
Click here for the article on the City Limits website, and click on "read more" below for the text by reporter Rachel Nielsen.
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Events: Rally for Rent Stabilization (Repeal Vacancy Decontrol)
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Join the "New York Is Our Home" Campaign to support rent stabilization and repeal vacancy decontrol.
- Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008
- 6:30 PM - 8 PM
- NY Society for Ethical Culture
2 West 64th St. (Manhattan)
Click on "read more" below for why we need to repeal vacancy decontrol, and go to Housing Here & Now for a flyer.
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Reclaiming Affordable Housing in this Financial Slump
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The Partnership to Preserve Affordable Housing asks federal legislators to rescue formerly affordable developments endangered by predatory equity.
Click on "read more" below for details.
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Posted by sue on Sunday, November 16 @ 19:00:46 CST (5 reads)
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Democrats Take the State Senate - 4 Rogues Threaten Majority
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With enormous work by Tenants PAC, led by Michael McKee and Jackie Del Valle, Democrats won control of the State Senate for the first time in decades.
Click here for the NY Times article on this.
BUT 4 state senators (including 2 senators-elect) are putting the tenant agenda at risk by threatening to support continued Republican control of the Senate.
Contact
Hiram Monserrate (now a City Council member), Ruben Diaz, Sr., Carl Kruger and Pedro Espada (westchester address coming soon) and tell them to - stop putting the tenant reform agenda at risk and
- Support Malcolm Smith (the Democrat) for Senate Majority Leader.
Click on "read more" for details.
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Posted by sue on Wednesday, November 05 @ 10:04:25 CST (27 reads)
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Posted by sue on Tuesday, October 07 @ 15:46:07 CDT (25 reads)
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The Community Service Society has just published its 2008 report, Closing the Door, which notes that, as stated in the
Crain's New York Business.com headline, "Predatory Equity is Smothering Affordable Housing."
Click on "read more" below for the Crain's article
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The New York Times reports that the court has approved the sale of the building known as General Sedgwick (the home of hip hop) to developer Mark Karasick.
Karasick has already applied for "unique or peculiar circumstances" increases for every apartment in the building. Tenants must answer this one as a single unit, and not one at a time: in unity there is strength!
Click here or on "read more" below for the article.
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REAL RENT REFORM Campaign
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The Real Rent Reform campaign speaks for all tenants in rent regulated housing - from current and former Mitchell-Lamas to Section 8, to rent stabilized tenants and, perhaps, for those under rent control.
See the demands of the R3 campaign, reproduced below if you click on "read more.
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Posted by sue on Monday, September 15 @ 16:05:55 CDT (108 reads)
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Events: 'Alternative minimum'' lawsuit against RGB
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Tenants and Neighbors and many other tenant groups and individual tenants are plaintiffs in a lawsuit brought against the Rent Guidelines Board challenging this year's supplemental longevity increase.
The Legal Aid Society filed the case, which has now been assigned to Judge Emily Jane Goodman.
A press conference announced the lawsuit on Tuesday September 16, 2008, and the next hearing will be Dec. 11, 2008.
Click on "read more" below for more information about the suit, which challenges the "alternative minimum" increase imposed by the RGB.
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Posted by sue on Thursday, September 11 @ 22:00:25 CDT (105 reads)
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U or P lawsuit - latest developments
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Landlords Steve Witkoff of Witkoff Realty and Laurence Gluck of Stellar Management - along with some colleagues - are pursuing their action against the state's Division of Housing & Community Renewal's regulations.
Those regulations say that just leaving Mitchell-Lama is not by itself a "unique or peculiar circumstance" justifying raising the initial rent stabilized rent.
For the latest in the ongoing court action, click on "read more" below.
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Posted by sue on Tuesday, September 02 @ 15:57:27 CDT (121 reads)
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