It's been quite the year for housing in New York. In this week's special holiday episode, we will talk about the biggest housing news of the year, including the legislative budget, significant legal rulings, the ranked guidelines board and new laws passed by the City Council. We will cap the episode with what we can likely expect from the upcoming year in both the city and state, and some of the things we hope to accomplish. But for now, let's start housing New York.  

[THEME]

“We need 800,000 units to meet the demand today. What we have right now in the United States and what we have right now in New York City is almost a crisis of absurdity. We have thousands of people with rent vouchers and no place to use them; housing needs to be addressed from literally every angle. And we all must move from the position of No and say Yes. Housing will finally allow us to turn three generations of No into a City of Yes.”

[INTRO]

Hello, friends. I'm Kenny Burgos, the CEO of the New York Apartment Association, our weekly podcast discussing all the stories and developments that impact housing policy in this great state.

As we come to the end of the year, I just want to wish everyone a happy holiday. We're excited for the year ahead of us and we hope to make some serious progress on our housing goals. Now it's time to get to the annual recap. 

[01:15] [Housing in the State Budget]

The first story we're going to talk about is the housing package that was put in this year's budget. After a disappointing 2023 on housing, the topic was all the rage in the first few months at Albany. Lawmakers felt pressure from the historical housing shortage and a decades-long housing crisis.

[Gov. Kathy Hochul] “For too long, elected officials in New York have lacked the courage to take action.”

[Kenny Burgos] That was Governor Kathy Hochul speaking about the housing plan and the dire housing shortage. 

[Gov. Kathy Hochul]“The crisis is most dire in New York City, where we’re seeing the lowest vacancy rates since the 1960s: 1.4%. Healthy cities at about 10%.” [video]

[Kenny Burgos] So they passed three major pieces of legislation to address it: a new tax break for development called 485x, Good Cause Eviction, and some changes to the Individual Apartment Improvements for rent-stabilized buildings.  

It's safe to say nobody really liked this final deal, especially the owners of rent-stabilized buildings. The reforms to the IAIs were not helpful in addressing the growing number of vacant units that need significant renovations. It really only provides slightly more relief to a tiny universe of apartments that need small upgrades. 

The new 485x tax credit was also mostly panned by developers who say they don't intend to use it, except in small cases. And the passage of Good Cause Eviction was met with tepid response from tenant groups, due to its limitations and some carve-outs. Furthermore, the Good Cause Eviction law is unclear, so many property owners are unsure how to apply it. 

On the whole, the package is unlikely to address the state's housing supply crunch, and that's unfortunate. On the upside, it was such a failure that lawmakers can't sit back and say that they did something, which is what they were hoping for heading into re-election. Even though most lawmakers got re-elected, they all know that eventually there will be political consequences for failing to address rising housing costs and declining housing quality. That should give everyone hope heading into 2025.  

[03:10] [Housing in the Courts]

Turning our attention to the courts now, we saw some significant legal proceedings this year.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to grant cert in multiple challenges to the state's rent stabilization law, but left a pathway open for future challenges. This was not surprising. The court has been signaling that they need the right case to address unconstitutional takings connected to rent control schemes, but that hasn't been sent to them yet. 

Back in New York, a lawsuit challenging the city's unfair and inequitable property tax system got the nod to proceed by the state's highest court. This could set the table for some actual relief for both renters and property owners in the future.  

And on the local level, there was a case filed against the slow administering of justice in Housing Court. This was necessary after the courts regularly missed mandated time rules by months. 

These court actions are important. In many cases, policy change won't happen until there is pressure from the legal system. Already, we have seen Queens housing courts speed up. So instead of missing deadlines by six months, they're only missing them by three months.

At the end of the day, the lawsuits are supplements to advocacy. The best way to improve things is through direct lobbying of the government and working to build consensus among lawmakers. Lawsuits aren't going to reform rent stabilization or make property taxes less unjust. Lawmakers have to tackle these issues, and in 2025, we will be focused on lobbying to make that happen.  

[04:35] [The Rent Guidelines Board]

Another top story from 2024 was the developments at the Rent Guidelines Board. Mainly, the added security necessary to stop harassment and physical threats of board members that has now become the norm for this overly politicized process.

[Audio: May 2, 2023 RGB preliminary vote meeting]

[protesters chant] “Shame on you! Shame on you…”

[RGB Board Chair Nestor Davidson] “...If we could have a moment of quiet, please.”

[protesters continue] “...Shame on you! Shame on you…”

[Kenny Burgos] It was necessary after the 2023 incident where City Council members led protesters onto the stage to physically intimidate the board. 

(...protesters booing, jeering, creating a cacophony…)

[Owner Member Christina Smyth] “...We believe our proposal does just that. Our proposal…”

[protesters chanting] “Shame on you! Shame on you…”

[Kenny Burgos] And then some of those supporters later followed members out of the building and threatened to beat them up. Fortunately, this year's proceedings were more in control, but protesters still shouted down people they didn't like at the public hearings. 

[Audio: June 17, 2024 RGB final vote meeting]

(...protesters booing, jeering…)

[Owner Member Robert Ehrlich] “Let us be clear, rent stabilized buildings are in severe financial distress. That was the message from analyzing the data from this board, which showed a 19% decline in net operating income for older rent-stabilized buildings in the Bronx...”

(...protesters booing, jeering…)

[Kenny Burgos] In the end, the RGB advanced a rent adjustment that was well below inflation and barely covered property-tax increases for most older buildings.

It's clear to everyone that this process is not working. And in most democracies, people who are serving the government are allowed to do their work without fear or harassment. I think in the United States of America, we would all strive for a decency where public servants aren't threatened. Unfortunately, that has become a common occurrence in our society. 

We hope that this year's RGB process is more civil and less politically tainted. But we're not optimistic. Several mayoral candidates have already tried to make the process more political – pledging to do away with the RGB's independence and just force them to freeze rents. While that's illegal and would likely fail, it's still concerning that institutions and norms are so easily dismissed in modern politics.  

[06:43] [Housing in New York City]

Housing was a huge topic in the New York City Council this year as well. 

[Mayor Eric Adams] “We passed [the] City of Yes [for] Housing Opportunity, and we should be happy.” (applause…)

[Kenny Burgos] Mayor Adams had a moonshot goal of creating 500,000 new units in the city, and he was able to take a few small steps towards that goal thanks to the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity.

[Mayor Eric Adams] “Every neighborhood is going to see a little more housing. We're no longer going to have the days when you have 59 community boards and 10 community boards are doing more for housing than 49 others combined. That is unacceptable. The housing crisis is a New York City crisis, and we all must move from the position of No and say ‘Yes.’” [video]

[Kenny Burgos] The zoning reforms are expected to create about 80,000 units over the next 15 years – well fewer than needed. It was a contentious fight, but the mayor's team was able to convince the City Council to back the bill. 

Meanwhile, the City Council and the mayor have been locked in a battle over vouchers. Vouchers are one of the surest ways to get people housed, but they need to be accessible and easier to use for both tenants and housing providers. So that battle continues.  

Other significant pieces of legislation passed by the City Council this year include renewing the J-51 program, which likely won't help most rent stabilized owners, and passing the Fare Act broker-fee bill, which is also being challenged in court. 

While we appreciate the focus on housing, we continue to see the issue used as a pawn for political purposes. If elected officials were serious about solving the problem, the City Council would be working in unison with state officials, passing policies that complement each other, and focusing efforts on building support for a comprehensive plan. 

Instead, housing policy continues to be more piecemeal and designed to placate small constituencies, instead of actually solving problems. We expect this dynamic to continue, unfortunately. When it comes to charged topics like housing, lawmakers tend to become sensitive to hyper-local concerns. That leads to policies that don't benefit the larger good. 

This is why the pathway to better housing and abundant housing must come from bold leadership from the top. 

[08:50] [NYAA launch]

The final story we're going to talk about in our year-in-review podcast is… us! 

In September, the New York Apartment Association was officially launched, merging the Community Housing Improvement Program with the Rent Stabilization Association. This was the product of years of work from the Owner Members agreeing that we need to have a unified and singular voice to advocate for the industry.

I was honored to be selected as the first CEO of NYAA, to bring new energy and focus to housing advocacy. 

It was clear to me when I was in the Assembly, and it's even clearer to me now, that we have policy failures in housing. Fixing those problems can't be accomplished with small changes to poorly crafted laws. 

What we need is a new vision for what housing can be. We need renters and working class New Yorkers to believe that things can get better. That the quality can get better and the rent can get more affordable; and we can create pathways to home ownership in New York. 

What's standing in the way is not a force beyond our control. It's just bad policy that disincentivizes growth and makes abundant housing economically infeasible. 

I believe that if we present this vision and organize New Yorkers, we can create a movement that will demand more and demand better. And that is what we hope to do here at the New York Apartment Association. 

[OUTRO]

That's the end of the podcast. You can follow us @housingy on most social media channels. On behalf of everyone at the New York Apartment Association, I want to wish you happy holidays and a Happy New Year. I hope everyone is safe, has fun, and comes back in 2025 ready to fight for better housing.

The Housing New York podcast is a proud product of the New York Apartment Association. Please keep sending us feedback on our website or in the comments below. You've been listening to Housing New York with Kenny Burgos, and I'll see you all next year. 

And remember, good housing policy starts with good conversation.