Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association

A delegation of Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association board members met with Paul Francis, a top policy adviser to Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo, on Friday, December 17th, to speak in support of rent law renewal with no caving in to real estate interests.

Confronting the issue of renewal of State rent laws, which expire this coming June, the group spoke on behalf of the entire Stuy Town and Peter Cooper community in asking that the new governor use the power of his office not only to support renewal of rent protections but to defend the newly-won rights of tenants who were unfairly overcharged for “market rate” apartments by landlords double dipping—deregulating apartments while collecting tax benefits under J51.

With real estate groups openly filling their war chests to neutralize the Roberts decision, the Tenants Association group voiced its concern and that of other tenant advocacy organizations that pro-landlord legislators will attempt to hold renewal of rent-regulations hostage to defeat of Roberts.

Another key issue of the group’s mission was to ask for reversal of Vacancy Decontrol and High Income-High Rent Decontrol, both of which have been put in place over the years by legislators answering to real estate interests. The two policies have succeeded in removing thousands of rent-stabilized apartments from the stock of affordable rentals in the five boroughs of New York.

Pointing to this record of diluting the effectiveness of rent laws, the Association has been calling for the rollback of Vacancy Decontrol and High Income-High Rent Decontrol from the start.

Although he is not yet in a position to act on any State issues, Mr. Francis listened attentively to their presentation, the TA team reported. They delivered into his hand for the Governor-elect’s attention a letter signed by TA president Al Doyle, setting forth the tenant position in detail, including highlighting recent attempts to undo Roberts by both Governor Paterson and now-indicted, former Senate Housing Chairman Pedro Espada.

Read the Cuomo Letter