For too long, representatives from upstate New York have had too much control over how New York City governs its housing policy. This system has destabilized communities and spurred the loss of hundreds of thousands of units of affordable housing, many of them home to some of our most vulnerable residents. By repealing the Urstadt laws, we can restore home rule and put authority back where it belongs – in the hands of the local legislature.

I want to congratulate Speaker Silver and the rest of his colleagues in the Assembly for taking a gigantic step forward in the restoration of home rule for New York City’s tenants.