BUFFALO, N.Y. — The New York state Legislature amended its law in 2019 to allowing more local governments outside of New York City to impose rent stabilization measures.
However, state Sen. Brian Kavanagh, D-Manhattan, said the option hasn’t caught on with most upstate communities.
“That has been a policy that we’ve used effectively for a long time in the New York City metropolitan area and other places around the country. It has not yet become commonplace in the rest of the state,” he said.
Kavanagh believes part of the reason is because the statute that sets the requirements to declare a rent emergency is 50 years old and tailored to New York City. Currently localities must conduct a survey of rental housng and demostrate the vacancy rate is below 5%.
The state senator is proposing an alternative method allowing governments to consider other factors like homelessness data and eviction rates in order to institute things like controlled rent increases and eviction protections.
“The legislative body of your local government would be able to assess housing conditions. They would have a hearing and if based on the testimony they receive and the information available to them, they believe they have a housing emergency, they would then have a resolution of that body that calls for rent regulation,” Kavanagh said.
The legislation would apply to buildings 15 years or older. Currently buildings built after 1974 are exempt.
It would also allow governments to regulate smaller buildings where the law right now applies only to those with six or more units.
Western New York Property Owners Association Executive Director Lisa Damiani said the proposal is a continued assault on some of the state’s smallest business owners.
“If we’re trying to help people out and we’re trying to say that things are not affordable for some people then the government should be stepping in and providing that assistance. It shouldn’t be on the backs of private business owners or property owners,” she said.
Buffalo Common Council Member Mitch Nowakowski said the city could benefit from the flexibility for which the bill allows. The price of apartments in Buffalo has increased substantially in recent years.
However, he believes the common council should give serious thought before imposing more regulations on landlords in a city still considered among the most affordable in the country for housing.
“I don’t know necessarily if we actually have a rental emergency in the city of Buffalo just yet or if the market is just catching up with comparable cities and neighborhoods,” Nowakowski said.
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