NY Times: rent control made millionaires of tenants in Manhattan building (New York: low income, for rent)
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This I can agree with. I don't have any issue with the current system being modified. I do have a problem with thinking that landlords don't need to be governed. Everybody has to answer to somebody. You make pharmaceuticals? Report to the FDA. You grow crops? Report to the USDA. You want to be on TV? Report to the FCC. Wanna play stocks and bonds? SEC. Get the picture? What makes landlords think they can be exempt?
You are mixing things up terribly. Regulations and price-controls are mutually exclusive. Because there is oversight of an industry does not mean that the government sets prices.
Cars are heavily regulated, but I do not see the government telling Honda how much to charge for an Accord, do you?
Food is heavily regulated, but I do not see the government telling Dole how much to charge for a banana, do you?
Much of this is tied to the law requiring NYC to find housing for everyone who asks for it/homeless. There are far too many people banging on the city's door saying you have to house me (from literally across the country and PR), and it costs a profound amount of money to house people in shelters even if there were enough beds. So instead the city flooded the market with subsidized vouchers of every kind to meet every need imaginable (Section 8 is a prime example, but there are so many others), and then make it very difficult to nearly impossible to evict a tenant because they become the city's problem again.
These are all failed policies that make life worse, not better for NYers, and the politicizing and hijacking of the rent stabilization/control laws are just as bed. None of it will change so long as A: The city is required to house every man/woman/child who asks for it and B: Politicians simply pander for votes.
This post, while off-topic, is valuable because it strikes at the broader problem - NYC has become the world's magnet for the poor.
Need free/cheap housing? Have kids and welcome to your new (city-paid) apartment.
Need free healthcare? Medicaid is for you, and NY spends more on it by far than anywhere else.
Which means what? That we should continue to accept a system where the food is taken off my family's plate and given to those who want cheap rents to support their Florida vacation home?
My friend, a lot of us producers are leaving the city in droves - and if enough leave, which seems to be happening, the city will collapse. Do not think that there will not be a point where those of us remaining stop paying estimated taxes, and the whole freaking system will come down.
Sterpetron...from the bottom of my heart THANK YOU for stating those facts on your post and shutting up these liberal pro-regulation adovates. You made perfect sense and broke down the issue where even a caveman can understand.
If the so-called "poor" can't afford to pay their rent, have them join Section 8 or some other type of program to pay the difference.
The landlord should NOT take a rent discount and come out of his pockets to SUBSIDIZE these "poor" people while at the same time have to pay MARKET EXPENSES. Seventh, please tell me you understand this concept of collecting below market rents yet having no choice but to pay MARKET EXPENSES. The numbers don't add up.
Now if the income requirements to be eligible for Section 8 is too low for some then...that's not the landlord's problem. Go cry to Bloomberg, HUD or whoever sets the threshold. But in NO WAY should the financial burden be placed on the landlord to come up with the difference.
Being "poor", homeless and unable to pay the rent is a CITY or PUBLIC problem. Therefore, you must use PUBLIC money to fix this PUBLIC problem.
You don't single out the real estate industry and use PRIVATE money from landlords to solve a PUBLIC problem. That's just insane and unconstitutional! This isn't communist USSR...this is America where captialism is the FOUNDATION of this country.
Is there price control in health care? NO
Is there price control on foods? NO
Is there price control on electricity and gasoline? NO
Is there price control in apartment rentals...YES!!! HOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE????????
this is interesting - and honestly, seems a bit unfair for the landlord?
Your question puts the issue in the wrong framework.
Yes, of course it's unfair to the landlord for reasons that have been clearly explained by several posters on this thread. But that's not the issue we should focus on. It shouldn't be presented in a landlords vs. rentrol framework. It should be presented in a PEOPLE OF NEW YORK vs. rent controls framework. Because that's precisely what it is.
Why is it so important to place the issue in this framework? Because the rent system is a totally political animal. It's very simple. The politicians make their decision based on which position will give them more votes. In NYC it's a no-brainer. Rent regulated tenants far outnumber owners of rent regulated apartments.
The only way to rid us of a political animal is to change the political equation. In order to do that we have to get the general population involved - that is, make them aware that they have an important stake in it. The silent majority of people in NYC are small home owners, apartment owners, and market rate tenants. The pro rent regulation lobby has done a very good job over the years of making these people believe that it is a landlords vs. rent controls issue and that it has no effect on them. So even if the silent majority believes that the system is unfair to landlords, they won't lose any sleep over it because they believe it doesn't effect them.
The task then is to inform the silent majority of the serious and numerous ways that the rent control system negatively impacts them: Taxes - The level of state and city required to support the system is enormous. At the same time, the city's revenue from its main source - the property tax - is kept artificially low reflecting the lower assessments on buildings due to artificially low rental incomes.
The silent majority pays for this through higher taxes. Low vacancy rate and higher market rents - Rent-stabilized and rent-controlled tenants often sit on their apartments for decades, even life. And sometimes even beyond life - they pass it on as if it were part of their estate. And as has been mentioned, the coop boom (a direct consequence of rent stabilization) eliminated hundreds of thousands of rental apartment from the market.
A lower supply of apartments naturally increases market rents. The end result is that it takes you longer to find an apartment and, when you do, you pay more for it.
So the idea is to wake up the silent majority and not just preach to the choir. If that happened, the politicians would flip their positions in a New York minute. The problem is how to publicise the terrible effects of the system. It won't happen through the use of this forum. How many are reading this thread, a few hundred? We need a million. Otherwise this monster will be here for another 65 years, to the great detriment of the people of New York state and city.
Thank you Lamontnow. You're right...the public must be educated on how the rent control/rent stabilization system does a DISSERVICE to them rather than help them.
This should become a primary objective of the RSA and other Real Estate Associations. They should buy some radio and TV time and spread the truth to the masses.
Does anyone have governor Cuomo's or Bloomberg's email? Something as important as this should def be hitting the right ears who have the power to reform and change laws.
The Rent Stabilization Law is set to expire later this year...now is the time to be proactive, educate the people, educate the policticians and take an aggressive approach in changing the mindset of these people. The time is now!
If the Rent Stabilization Law can't be totally abolished, they can at least loosen up some of these restrictions and modify the law so that within a few years it is graudually phased out.
A good starting point would be REMOVING the "entitlement" of a lease renewal once an RS tenant's lease expires. Having a tenant for LIFE is insane!
Also, the reinstatement of the minimum dollar rent increase which pro-rent stabilization adovates coined the "poor tax" to gain the sympathy vote.
Thank you Lamontnow. You're right...the public must be educated on how the rent control/rent stabilization system does a DISSERVICE to them rather than help them.
This should become a primary objective of the RSA and other Real Estate Associations. They should buy some radio and TV time and spread the truth to the masses.
Does anyone have governor Cuomo's or Bloomberg's email? Something as important as this should def be hitting the right ears who have the power to reform and change laws.
The Rent Stabilization Law is set to expire later this year...now is the time to be proactive, educate the people, educate the policticians and take an aggressive approach in changing the mindset of these people. The time is now!
If the Rent Stabilization Law can't be totally abolished, they can at least loosen up some of these restrictions and modify the law so that within a few years it is graudually phased out.
A good starting point would be REMOVING the "entitlement" of a lease renewal once an RS tenant's lease expires. Having a tenant for LIFE is insane!
Also, the reinstatement of the minimum dollar rent increase which pro-rent stabilization adovates coined the "poor tax" to gain the sympathy vote.
The problem is that it does not help you and me but all those benefiting from it do not see it as a bad thing. This will be the headline "Non-renewal of rent regulation laws leave hundreds of thousands of poor New Yorkers without a home."
So someone needs to spend money to really get the word out on all of this and be ready to combat the garbage that pro-regulation organizations will try to make people believe. No one will be left without a home, they will simply have to move to neighborhoods that can afford. And many of them are not poor.
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