New York City voted to increase rent on stabilized apartments. Is Westchester next?
New Yorkers living in stabilized apartments in the five boroughs face higher rents this fall, and the Lower Hudson Valley may be poised to follow suit, with the Westchester County Rent Guidelines Board set to vote on rent increases later this month.
The city of New York recently voted to allow an increase in prices for rent-stabilized apartments.
According to the press office of Mayor Eric Adams, residents who live in rent-stabilized apartments will see their rents increase this October. In a 5-to-4 vote, New York City's Rent Guidelines Board voted to approve rent increases. One-year leases will rise by 2.75%, while two-year leases will rise by 5.25%.
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Housing cost burden on Westchester families at a 'breaking point'
Like New York City, Westchester is in the process of determining whether there will be rent adjustments for leases of rent-stabilized apartments, also known as apartments subject to the Emergency Tenants Protection Act (EPTA), which regulates the amount that the rent on such apartments can be increased. (This is not to be confused with rent control, a system implemented right after World War II to protect tenants living in private buildings from illegal rent increases.)
A number of public hearings have taken place this month ahead of June 27, the date when the Westchester Rent Guidelines Board is scheduled to vote on changes.
"The level of housing cost burden on families in Westchester is at a breaking point," said Marlene Zarfes, the executive director of Westchester Residential Opportunities, Inc., the company that handles the marketing of affordable housing for the county. "Westchester has a housing market that is increasingly unaffordable to all but higher income households."
Zarfes' comments highlight the need for rent prices to remain level. Like her, Dennis Hanratty, the executive director of Mount Vernon United Tenants, a community organization that provides tenant assistance, said "tenants are going to get hurt" should the county decide to increase rents.
"People are spending 70% of their income for rent," Hanratty said. He said many of the people Mount Vernon United Tenants works with head single parent households.
"They can't get the kids a change in shoes or clothes or clothes and stuff like that, because everything goes to rent," Hanratty said.
Hanratty said that "the deck is really stacked against low to moderate income tenants in today's housing market." He advocates for no rent increase for both one- and two-year renewals.
According to Charni Sochet of the New York State Homes & Community Renewal (HCR), the Westchester Rent Guidelines Board makes its decision on rent adjustments using factors that include the economic condition of the residential real estate industry, cost of living indices for the area and other factors.
That's where the HCR, the state's affordable housing agency, comes in. Some of the information the board uses is provided each year through HCR’s tabulation of the results of surveys of income and expenses, which are sent to owners of rent-regulated buildings within the county annually, Sochet said via email.
The Rent Guidelines Board also uses the public hearings it holds throughout the county to gather additional information needed to make its decision.
The next public meeting of the Westchester Rent Guidelines Board will take place at 6 p.m. on Monday, June 24 at Yonkers Public Library, Grinton I. Will Branch in the auditorium (1500 Central Park Avenue, Yonkers). Visit hcr.ny.gov/rent-guidelines-board-hearings for more information.
Samantha Antrum is the community news and outreach reporter for The Journal News/lohud. She reports on cultural and social justice issues and events, with a focus on BIPOC and underrepresented communities. You can reach her at santrum@lohud.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Stabilized apartments: Will Westchester raise rent after NYC vote?
