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State Senator Brian Kavanagh has been appointed chair of the Senate’s Committee on Housing, Construction and Community Development. This means he will be an influential voice as the Senate, under Democratic control for the first time in nearly a decade, makes a big push for stronger tenant housing protections. The state’s rent stabilization laws are set to expire in June.
The Democrats seized control of the New York State Senate with the recent election by winning eight Republican-held seats. With the victory, Democrats have a decisive majority in the state Senate. Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins is expected to become the Senate majority leader, making her the first woman to lead either legislative chamber and the first black woman to lead the Senate.
According to a new report from Localize.city, more than half of the new units expected to open by 2020 are concentrated in just 10 neighborhoods. All but one in the Lower East Side are in Queens or Brooklyn. In all, New York is expected to get 31,000 new units by 2020. The wave continues to build upon the flurry of new construction the city has seen since 2016. Since then, nearly 60,000 new rental and condo units have been added to the market, Localize.city found.
Mayor de Blasio recently announced that Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia will be named Senior Advisor for Citywide Lead Prevention to coordinate citywide efforts to reduce childhood lead exposure to zero. Since 2005, there has been a nearly 90 percent decrease in the number of New York City children under 6 years old with blood lead levels of 5 mcg/dL or greater.
New York City Council’s Committee on Housing and Buildings has jurisdiction over the city’s rent regulation policies and practices, as well as the Department of Buildings (DOB) and Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). The committee met on Oct. 16 to consider various legislation related to housing and building in New York City. Here’s an overview of the wide variety of issues and legislation covered at the hearing.
The de Blasio Administration recently announced the implementation of the Certification of No Harassment (CONH) Pilot Program, established by a new law that requires buildings that meet certain criteria to certify that no tenant harassment has taken place before being granted construction permits to significantly alter their properties. The city also published the list of more than 1,000 buildings with approximately 26,000 units that will now be subject to the CONH program.
In April of 2016, Mayor Bill de Blasio signed three bills that were designed to help the city collect $1.6 billion in outstanding fines for everything from building code infractions to tickets from the sanitation department. But the latest figures indicate that the value of the city’s claim has barely changed. According to data compiled by Housing Rights Initiative, the Department of Finance records show the city is owed more than $1.5 billion in various sanitation and building fines.
The DOB recently issued 43 violations and $285,375 in penalties against landlords for illegal transient use of 11 different buildings. Although the city has long prohibited renting out apartments as hotels, the rise of vacation rental sites such as Airbnb and Homeaway.com have driven a corresponding increase in enforcement against illegal short-term sublets from city agencies.
The de Blasio administration recently released the Mayor’s Management Report (MMR) for Fiscal Year 2018, an analysis of city agencies’ performance from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2018. The MMR presents more than 1,700 metrics from 45 city agencies that measure the city’s performance in providing services to New Yorkers.
Mayor Bill de Blasio recently signed into law a landmark bill that forces home-sharing companies such as Airbnb to disclose information about its New York City hosts. The new law will take effect in February 2019 and requires Airbnb to disclose the names and addresses of its hosts. The information will be turned over to the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement.
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