Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn's June 11, 2008, Testimony Before the Rent Guidelines Board
Good evening. My name is Christine C. Quinn, and I would like to thank the Rent Guidelines Board for giving me the opportunity to testify here today and to express my strong opposition to the proposed rent increases
I am not here tonight as Speaker of the City Council or as a former tenant organizer. I am here as one of the millions of tenants in New York City who has witnessed the widespread displacement of long time residents because they were literally priced out of their homes.
I am here because the City that gave me a home, that gave me the opportunity to pursue my dreams, is disappearing before my very eyes.
In many neighborhoods across our City, rent-stabilized apartments are the last enclaves of lower and middle-income New Yorkers. But rather than considering themselves fortunate, most residents live in constant fear of being forced out of their homes, either through this predictable ritual before the RGB or through harassment by landlords eager to cash in on the housing crunch at the expense of the very people who make this such a desirable place to live.
The sad fact is that I did not come here tonight to rail against the proposed rent increase. We all know that some kind of increase is already a foregone conclusion. And I suspect that if turnout at the last meeting at the Great Hall at Cooper Union is any indication, the people in rent-stabilized apartments have lost complete faith in this process.
The RGB has become a sideshow, a predictable and silly display that holds no regard either for the residents or their circumstances. And that must change.
We need to restore faith in the entire RGB from the ground up. We need to change the process for the better, which is why I strongly support State Senator Tom Duane and Assembly Member George Latimer’s Rent Guidelines Board Reform Bill (S8235/A11097) and have co-sponsored a City Council Resolution with Council Member Letitia James in support of this effort.
This bill mandates a number of changes to the Rent Guidelines Board, changes that would make the process fairer for every resident in a rent-stabilized unit.
It would automatically deny rent increases for one year for any unit with serious violations.
It would restructure the board to include 3 landlord members, 3 tenant members, and 3 public members, to ensure real people a greater voice in the process.
It would require board members to have some knowledge of affordable housing, and Mayoral appointments to the board would have to be approved by the City Council.
Perhaps most importantly, this bill would require the use of both income and expense information when determining whether a rent increase is warranted. The RGB regularly releases both the Price Index of Operating Costs and the Income and Expense Study. But it inexplicably relies only on the Price Index when it determining guidelines.
When you consider that in 2008, landlords had a net operating income increase of 8.8%, the rent increases are not only unjustified, they are basically a financial assault on the New Yorkers that can least afford it.
Affordable housing is the challenge of our time. The cornerstone of keeping a strong middle class in our city is keeping it so that people who have made their neighborhoods great can afford to live there.
The Rent Guidelines Board needs to reflect the real world of New York’s housing crunch. Otherwise, we will come to a day when this city is home only to the rich. We will come to a day when the people who make this the greatest city in the world can no longer afford to live here.
With the odds being continually stacked against keeping our city affordable, the residents of rent-stabilized apartments deserve a process that is more than just lip service from the RGB.
Sincerely,
Christine C. Quinn
Speaker
New York City Council
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