All Eyes On Defense Of Kingston Rent Stabilization; 15% Rent Reduction; Refund Appeal

###Republished in full from Housing Justice For All###

HOUSING MOVEMENT RESPONDS TO COURT OF APPEALS ORAL ARGUMENTS OVER KINGSTON RENT STABILIZATION

Rent stabilization was properly adopted by the City of Kingston and the 15% rent reduction was warranted following rapid price-gouging in the Hudson Valley city

NEW YORK – On Thursday, the New York State Court of Appeals heard oral arguments on the implementation of rent stabilization in Kingston, in the Matter of Hudson Valley Property Owners Association Inc. v City of Kingston. The case was brought by landlord representatives following the City of Kingston’s declaration of a housing emergency and implementation of rent stabilization, and a decision by the Kingston Rent Guidelines Board in 2022 to approve a negative rent adjustment of 15% to help tenants cope with an unsustainably expensive rental market.

Kingston was the first upstate city to adopt rent stabilization after the State Legislature passed the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA) in 2019, enabling localities outside of New York City to opt into the state’s rent stabilization system. A vacancy study conducted by the City of Kingston in 2022 determined that there was a vacancy rate of 1.57% in covered properties, under the 5% threshold required by the Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974 which governs the state’s rent stabilization system. The City Council declared a housing emergency, adopted rent stabilization, and appointed a Rent Guidelines Board to conduct public hearings and set the annual rent adjustment rate.

“The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act we fought for in 2019 was intended to give municipalities like Kingston the tools to slow price-gouging and protect their communities – and the City of Kingston followed all the rules to do just that. Today’s oral arguments made clear that rent stabilization in Kingston is both valid and necessary – and we expect the Court’s ruling to uphold that view,” said Cea Weaver, director of Housing Justice for All, the statewide coalition which led the 2019 fight to reform and expand rent stabilization.

Following a pandemic-fueled spike in local housing costs that nearly doubled rental prices, the Kingston Rent Guidelines Board voted in 2022 for a negative rent adjustment of 15% from the base rent, and a fair market rent guideline allowing tenants whose rent increased by more than 16 percent between January 2019 and July 2022 to appeal for a refund. Kingston’s declaration of a housing emergency was upheld by the Supreme Court and the Appellate Division, Third Department, and the Appellate Division also upheld the negative rent adjustment and fair market rent guideline.

Community organizations For the Many and Citizen Action of New York, both members of Housing Justice for All, intervened in the lawsuit on behalf of tenants, and were represented by Marcie Kobak from Legal Services of the Hudson Valley.

“During today’s oral arguments, landlords once again made it abundantly clear that this case is a bad faith attempt to circumvent the democratic process for the sake of profit,” said Brahvan Ranga, Political Director at For the Many. “We believe the Court of Appeals will agree and uphold lower court rulings in favor of Kingston’s rent stabilization measure and historic rent reduction. But no matter the outcome of this case, we will continue to fight for rent stabilization upstate and the passage of the REST Act, which would prevent other cities and towns from being dragged into frivolous lawsuits like this one, simply for trying to protect tenants.”

New legislation proposed in Albany, the Rent Emergency Stabilization for Tenants (REST) Act (S04659 Kavanagh / A04877 Shrestha), would empower municipalities like Kingston to declare a housing emergency and adopt rent stabilization based on a variety of publicly available data and testimony. Rather than require a costly and arbitrary vacancy study as the only metric for a housing emergency, the REST Act would enable municipalities to consider data such as overall housing supply, availability of affordable and habitable housing, share of renters who are cost-burdened, and local or regional homeless rate.

“Kingston rents nearly doubled between 2017-2022. This price gouging is why tenants fought so hard for rent stabilization and won a 15% rent reduction. In the three years since that victory, rents in regulated apartments have been frozen but not reduced, and investor landlords have done everything in their power to push tenants out through abuse and neglect. By upholding Kingston’s vacancy study and rent reduction, the Court of Appeals has the opportunity to affirm the state law’s intent to stabilize the market and provide relief to tenants,” said June Nemon, co-chair of Mid-Hudson Valley Democratic Socialists of America, another member organization of Housing Justice for All organizing locally around tenants rights.

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Housing Justice for All is a statewide coalition of more than 80 organizations representing tenants and homeless New Yorkers, united in our fight for housing as a human right