COUNTY LEGISLATORS VOICES HEARD, SAVING AFFORDABLE RENTS IN WESTCHESTER
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 28, 2007
Contact: Barbara Dodds, Legislative Aide; Tel: (914) 995-4429;Bad2@westchestergov.com
Effective November 21, the NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) officially closed a regulation loophole that allowed landlords leaving government subsidy housing programs to drastically increase rents to market rate. Rather than change the regulations permitting owner applications for rent remedies due to “unique and peculiar” circumstances, the new amendment clarifies the scope of the provisions and effectively blocks the possibility of broad applications to entire developments. “This is a great help to tenants and advocates of affordable rental housing in Westchester and could save thousands of units from escalating to market rates,” said County Legislator Lois T. Bronz, Chair of the Housing, Planning & Government Operations Committee.
The Committee sent a strong letter to DHCR requesting the amendment and Legislators Lois Bronz, Ken Jenkins and Tom Abinanti made statements at the public hearing in September which influenced the ruling. “We have been watching the maturation of Mitchell-Lama buildings in Westchester with great concern as owners poised for massive raises to tenant rents. We are indeed delighted with this outcome to save our stock of affordable housing,” said Bronz. “It should relieve the anxiety experienced by many tenants.”
The original subsidized housing program provision was applicable to situations affecting individual apartments. Landlords buying out of their program mortgage had begun to claim “unique and peculiar circumstances” for raising their buildings’ legal rents merely because of increases that would have accumulated had they been allowed. The result would have been market-rate rentals up to three to four times the Mitchell-Lama rate, affecting some 3800 units in jeopardy of buy outs in Westchester County.
Text: 
Print:
