News — Affordable Housing
Press Release: “No, the Rent Guidelines Board Is Not Considering Raising Rents by 16%”
Testimony: With Uptick in Evictions, NYC Must Fully Fund Right to Counsel
In 2017, NYC became the first city in the country to implement a Right to Counsel law. The data shows that RTC has been extremely effective in bringing down eviction rates.
Funding Public Housing Rental Arrears in New York State
A letter from advocates calling on Governor Hocul, Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, and Speaker Heastie to fund emergency rental assistance for public housing residents.
Testimony: Defending and Upholding Right to Counsel
Our 2022 Unheard Third Survey shows that 15% of all tenants were targeted for eviction, the highest share in a decade.
Testimony: Pathways to Social Housing
Bills under consideration in New York City could act as pathways to social housing – by preserving public land for the public good, by offering communities the opportunity to purchase multi-family housing, by creating a public entity to hold property and facilitate social housing conversions, by strengthening tenants’ rights, and by expanding funding sources for low-income housing.
Assembly-Line “Justice”: Eviction Attempts Reach Record Highs in 2022
From 2020 to 2021, New York held off a sharp increase in evictions with rental assistance programs and an eviction moratorium. With the end of the moratorium in early 2022, eviction filings climbed sharply. It is not as if no one saw it coming.
NYCHA and the Choices for Preserving Public Housing
Good Cause Eviction: Resources and Information
Since 2018, CSS has worked with Housing Justice for All on enacting Good Cause Eviction protection in New York State. We have advocated strongly for Good Cause because it would provide tenants with a baseline right to remain in their homes by prohibiting non-renewals and no-fault evictions unless a landlord proves good cause.
Testimony: Improving and Expanding CityFHEPS
Today, a record number of people are experiencing homelessness. While CityFHEPS can be a powerful tool against homelessness, the program is plagued with issues that must be addressed.
Press Release: CSS Applauds the Governor for Recognizing Medical Debt in Her `State of the State’
Good Cause for Alarm: Rents Are Rising for Low-Income Tenants in Unregulated Apartments
2022 was a brutal year for rents in New York. Rents went up nearly universally. While rent stabilized tenants had limits on how much their rents could rise, market-rate tenants had none — in large part because the state legislature failed to pass Good Cause, a bill that would allow tenants to challenge unconscionably large rent increases in court.
Testimony: Building Code Enforcement
The 2021 Housing and Vacancy Survey (HVS) showed a disturbing trend: the city’s housing stock is becoming both more expensive and more rundown. We spoke about 5 recommendations before the NYC Council Committee on Housing and Buildings.
A New Chapter in the Campaign for Safe, Affordable and Stable Housing
Testimony: Enforcement of the Housing Stability and Tenant Protections Act (HSTPA)
We encourage HCR to enact rules and regulations that are in line with the legislations’ goals to protect and geographically expand rent regulation, shield tenants from unlawful rent increases, and preserve New York’s low-rent housing stock.
Testimony: Rent Stabilization in Kingston
Kingston’s rental housing emergency is particularly severe. The state defines a housing emergency as a vacancy rate below 5 percent, and Kingston’s vacancy rate as of June 2022 was a staggeringly low 1.57 percent. This vacancy rate appears to be worsening since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic: in 2020, the vacancy rate was an already shockingly low 1.81 percent.
Testimony: Housing People Who Seek Asylum
New York City’s plan to house people seeking asylum in an area that is flood-prone, lacking in basic resources, and disconnected from the rest of the city is unconscionable. While this is a crisis manufactured by a broken immigration system that the city has no control over, we do have control over local housing policy, which can help mitigate some of its externalities.
Testimony: Making CityFHEPS More Accessible
We know that well-funded rental assistance programs can act as a key mechanism for helping homeless New Yorkers leave the shelter system and find permanent homes. CityFHEPS is the city’s rental assistance program. And, while the city has made strides to improve the functionality of this program, there are a number of administrative, enforcement, and funding issues that continue to hinder it from being as effective as it could be.
Blame Speculation, Not Rent Regulation: Why New York Must Enforce and Protect the 2019 Rent Laws
The last three years have been ones of momentous changes in our housing system, particularly for the more than two million people living in New York City’s 1,006,000 rent stabilized apartments.