|
|
|||||||||||
Home / News / Press Releases
/ Testimony
/ Legislation
/ On the Issues
/ Newsletter
/ Resources /
|
|||||||||||
|
|
For Immediate Release: Tuesday, April 12th, 2005Contact: Jordan Isenstadt (c) 516.991.3842 (w) 212.490.9535 (f) 212.490.2151 ***PRESS
RELEASE*** State Senator Liz Krueger Seeks
Restoration of Home Rule Fights to Protect New York City’s Affordable Housing Albany, NY – State Senator Liz
Krueger (D-Manhattan) offered a motion
to petition today to bring a bill to restore home rule to New York City to
the floor of the Senate. The Urstadt Law, named after
Charles Urstadt, former Governor Nelson Rockefeller’s housing commissioner,
was enacted in 1971 as part of Rockefeller’s vacancy-decontrol legislation.
It specifically barred New York City from adopting rent limitations and protections
that are “more stringent or restrictive than those presently in effect.” Senator Krueger’s motion was
defeated. The legislation (S.2735) proposed by Senator Krueger
would repeal the anachronistic Urstadt Law, as well as the 2003 provisions
that further curtailed New York City’s home rule powers. “By preventing the
City of New York from acting to preserve affordable housing, the Urstadt Law
is an unconscionable restriction on the democratic home rule of New York City
residents,” stated Senator Krueger.
“It restricts our ability to control our policy and our destiny on a
strictly local issue. Residents of
New York City are entitled to equal protection.” Since 1971, when home rule over
rent and eviction protections was taken away, New York City's housing
situation has gone from chronic shortage to acute crisis. According to the 2002 New York
City Housing and Vacancy survey, the rental vacancy rate is 2.94%. A vacancy rate of less than 5% creates
abnormal market conditions. Rent
hardship afflicts poor and middle-class households alike, with half of all
New Yorkers paying at or over the federal hardship level of 30% of income on
rent, and a fourth of all households paying more than half their income on
rent. According to a Community
Service Society report that was released today, poor New Yorkers spend 57% of
their income on housing. “In my twenty years as an
advocate for low-income families, I heard the same story over and over again
– New Yorkers' having to make the decision to pay for rent over purchasing
food for their families,” remarked Senator Krueger. “We now live in a time when homelessness
levels are back up to Depression era numbers, emergency food providers
can not keep up with demands, and even middle-income, working families find
themselves in housing crisis. If
we do not start to come up with some real solutions, we will find ourselves
in the midst of an un-resolvable catastrophe.” Earlier today, City Council
Speaker Gifford Miller and several other Councilmember’s held a press
conference calling for the repeal of the Urstadt Law. Additionally, New York City Mayor Michael
Bloomberg has previously spoken out in favor of repealing the undemocratic
law. During the debate Senator
Krueger asked her Republican colleagues to “respect the right of New York
City government to make housing decisions on behalf of the eight and a half
million people living in the five boroughs.”
Unfortunately, most of the Republican Senators were not in the chamber
when Senator Krueger offered her statements, because members are not required
to be present for a motion to petition. Other localities throughout the
state are given home rule over issues of local importance. “It is ironic that the Republican Party has
historically fancied itself as being the defenders of home-rule
actions -- the recognition of the importance of localities
determining their local laws,” said Senator Krueger. “I expected that this motion would be voted down today,” concluded Senator Krueger. “The Democratic Conference will continue to fight to restore home rule, so that elected officials for the City of New York (the Council and the Mayor) can have the authority to adopt a rational set of housing policies which protect the shrinking stock of affordable housing units and can maximize options to increase new apartments.” -30- |
|||||||||
