Media coverage about tenant protections and organizing
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Organizers say the Hudson Valley Tenants Union will help renters collectively bargain with landlords, demand repairs and fight evictions as housing costs soar.
The Hudson Valley Tenants Union has launched its effort to build tenant power throughout the region. Lead organizer June Nemon has been pushing for tenants’ rights since Kingston started with its declaration of a housing emergency in 2022.
June Nemon is the kind of person who is poised for action. When they speak about things like the housing crisis in Kingston or about how to organize neighbors, facts and figures come out alongside a vision for how tenants can be empowered by joining together.
Organizer June Nemon said the union will be successful if tenants come together, “If tenants in every single city and town in our region are able to work together and support each other, then we could be able to fundamentally shift the balance of power away from landlords and towards tenants."
June Nemon, the lead organizer of the Hudson Valley Tenants Union (HVTU), said that the union was born from various struggles around tenant protections in the area and a response to the "class war that has pushed by the landlords class."
Dozens of tenants, tenant organizers and housing justice advocates crowded Academy Green Park on Wednesday, May 27, for a rally celebrating the launch of the Hudson Valley Tenants Union.
The REST Act had already passed through committee in the State Senate, so now it’s one step closer to votes in the Assembly after having cleared the Housing and Codes Committees in that chamber on Wednesday.
The motion stated that, “As it is undisputed that the Kingston Common Council has not adopted a resolution ending the emergency, … plaintiffs-petitioners cannot obtain a declaration that the ETPA emergency in the city of Kingston has come to an end.”
Two dozen tenants faced widespread leaks during heavy winter storms earlier this year. By February, the leaks were patched but months later, walls, ceilings, floors and electrical ports still haven't been replaced for all of them.
In the two years since the state adopted good cause eviction legislation that prevents landlords from removing tenants without good reason, 21 upstate municipalities have adopted local laws, most recently, the Town of Pleasant Valley.
Shrestha blasted landlords’ years-long effort to end rent stabilization and “preserve their ability to hike rents and kick people out of their homes at will. We must pass my bill, the REST Act, this year to give localities the power to preserve affordable housing"
For now, the judge’s order creates a holding pattern: tenants remain protected from rent increases, but the usual lease renewal process is effectively paused, and administrative enforcement is partially frozen.
A group of landlords has sued the city over the Common Council’s vote to continue rent control under the Emergency Tenant Protection Act. Tenants’ rights advocates and some officials, meanwhile, blasted the lawsuit as baseless.
June Nemon, Lead Organizer at the Hudson Valley Tenants Union, joins host Richard Heyl de Ortiz to discuss the realities of housing in the Hudson Valley and this issue impacts queer people.
Modern, smart rent control policies like New York’s rent stabilization laws prevent displacement while allowing for the development of new housing.
White paint was peeling from the ceiling as water pooled in the drywall, sending chunks crumbling to the floor. The walls were damp. A steady stream of water was leaking into the living room, soaking furniture and rugs.
By adjusting rent thresholds and shrinking landlord exemptions, more than a dozen municipalities have adopted stronger versions of a state law that protects tenants from high rent increases and unreasonable evictions.
Mayor Noble’s deal led our landlords to receive $35 million, but conditions at Stony Run have only worsened since then. There are countless failing HVACS, filthy hallways, and rodent-ridden buildings. I was on the tenant board negotiating with our landlords, but they refused to address these issues.
With his back against the wall, the mayor was ready to begin his speech. But when he opened his mouth to speak, the crowd walked out on him. This inspired bit of political theater, tenant organizer June Nemon attributed to “tenants who have been leading the fight to save rent stabilization.”
“The city is suing the state because they want to be able to do the same sort of workforce housing agreements in other rent-stabilized buildings that they have done here at Stony Run, and even though it's illegal, they believe that it would allow landlords to dramatically increase rents"
“The decision to override the mayor’s veto is not merely a procedural step; it reflects our community’s values and our commitment to making our city a sustainable place for working families and our seniors,” Michelle Hirsch, majority leader and Ward 9 alderwoman
Tenant organizer June Nemon blasted Noble’s record on tenant protections, pointing to efforts to remove ETPA protections for Stony Run residents by “deregulating” the building, which they noted has resulted in dramatic increases for about half the units at the complex.
Mayor Steve Noble has vetoed a contentious council resolution that allowed Kingston to maintain rent stabilization despite the disputed findings of a survey that cast doubt on the policy.
Last week the Kingston Common Council unanimously renewed its rent and eviction protections. Today, Mayor Steve Noble vetoed the renewal, jeopardizing the housing of 1200 families. Scott Sommer spoke with Kingston Alderwoman Michele Hirsch, and tenant organizer June Nemon to find out the latest.
Wednesday’s vote followed months of tireless advocacy by tenant advocates, who packed public hearings, overwhelming the comparatively small turnout by landlords.
Tenant organizer June Nemon hailed the committee’s vote. “At the public hearings, we saw dozens and dozens of tenants come out and speak, not only to the necessity of rent stabilization to keep them in their homes, but also to a lot of the specific issues in the vacancy study"
Tenants spoke about their fears of losing housing if their rents are raised, unsatisfactory living conditions, and the benefits they’ve had from living in rent-stabilized apartments.
Renters, ranging from teachers to state workers to small business owners, shared stories of their landlords increasing rents, maintenance issues, and intentionally holding back units by not listing them in a practice known as “warehousing” during the time period the city was gathering data
A prominent Hudson Valley landlord used up to $100,000 from a New York City-based landlord group to fund his organization’s fight against rent stabilization in the city of Kingston.
Assemblymember Shrestha said she is thrilled that Rosenthal has scheduled a hearing this month. “I hope it illuminates what unnecessary hurdles we have imposed on localities outside of New York City who want to protect their residents with rent stabilization"
A report by the Hudson Valley Justice Center calls on the city to continue full rent control under the Emergency Tenant Protection Act, based on the citywide vacancy rate and not just the rate for ETPA buildings.
Rent stabilization has kept the rent frozen for roughly 20% of Kingston’s renters over the last 3 years. It has kept hundreds of families in their homes, including many of the people that work in our schools, restaurants, and hospitals.
To prevent warehousing from distorting the data, the mayor’s office could have verified the information supplied by landlords, particularly by checking for online listings. Without such verification, the city risks taking landlords at their word, despite discrepancies with other available data.
“As tenants, organizers, and lawyers have expected, the Stony Run landlords have filed a Petition for Administrative Review, essentially a direct appeal to DHCR (Division of Homes and Community Renewal),” June Nemon, a tenant organizer with the Stony Run Tenants Union said in an email.
“This study shows that the only buildings in the entire city with significant vacancies are smaller rent-stabilized buildings” tenant organizer June Nemon added. “Tenants in these complexes have been consistently reporting that units have been kept empty, indicating widespread landlord manipulation"
Tenants in the first upstate city to adopt New York’s rent stabilization law could lose protections after a new vacancy study found that Kingston no longer meets the standard for a “housing emergency.”
“This is a huge victory for Stony Run tenants, though, of course, there is more to do to get tenants their reductions and refunds,” said June Nemon, a tenant orgizer with the Stony Run Tenants Union. But Nemon cautioned that the complex’s landlord, Aker, will likely appeal the ruling.
The city’s largest privately owned apartment complex, Stony Run, will not receive an exemption from rent regulations, according to a ruling in a case that many saw as a test of tenant protections in upstate New York.
By opting in, Middletown joins a growing list of Hudson Valley communities to adopt “good cause,” including: Kingston, Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, Hudson, Catskill, Croton-on-Hudson, and Albany. Middletown also chose the strongest possible version of the law, defining “small landlords” — who are exempt
New York’s highest court has upheld the city of Kingston’s vacancy study and subsequent decision to reduce rents in protected buildings, bringing an end to a case that has been seen as a test of the state’s expanded rent stabilization law.
“This ploy to destabilize Stony Run is corrupt,” said Teresa Greene, a representative for the tenants. “I think what is important here is…we have been bamboozled,” Greene said. “We were told they would follow the law if the courts decided they had to give a rent reduction and they didn’t.”
The Common Council has an obligation to act, I fully support my colleague Alderwoman Pasti’s resolution advocating that NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal deny the Stony Run landlord’s their application for deregulation.
Marcie Kobak, director of Legal Services of the Hudson Valley, called it a gambit to evade rent stabilization. “The real question is whether Stony Run is truly operated exclusively for charitable purposes,” she said.
Broken windows, leaky pipes and sewage backups are some of the issues that tenants at Kingston's Stony Run Apartments at the Stockade are facing. But they say trying to get those issues fixed is its own challenge.
“The Mayor is misleading tenants and the general public regarding both the nature of the workforce housing agreement and the promises he made at the time it was implemented,” Tenant Organizer June Nemon said.
Tenant organizer June Nemon said when tenants leave, new tenants face rents that are $600 to $700 higher and sometimes more than the previous tenant paid. Nemon said that the ETPA protections should apply to the unit, not the person. Mayor Noble disagreed.
Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha has launched legislation that would, if enacted, make it easier for municipalities to opt into the state’s rent stabilization program and expand the number of apartment units that could participate, according to a statement from proponents.
The city plans to pursue another rental unit vacancy study in 2025 even as a previous 2022 study used to establish rent control remains mired in litigation in the state’s highest court.
A landlord advocacy group filed an appeal to the state’s highest court asking to reverse a lower court decision that favored Kingston in an ongoing battle over the city’s handling of a housing vacancy study that was the basis to establish rent control.
"The vacancy study requirement simply doesn’t reflect the reality of the housing emergency or the need for stabilization of rising rental prices,” said coalition Housing Justice For All Director Cea Weaver said in a statement.
Housing Justice for All proposes modernizing the ETPA law to allow municipalities to declare an emergency and stabilize rents based on public hearings as well as publicly available data such as the overall housing supply, rent-to-income ratios, local or regional homelessness rate.
The Good Cause Eviction Law passed unanimously with a 3-0 vote Wednesday by the village of Catskill Board of Trustees. The village of Catskill joins the cities of Hudson, Albany, Kingston, Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, Ithaca, Beacon and the villages of Nyack and New Paltz.
The city’s Common Council voted Tuesday night to opt into the state’s “good-cause” eviction law, which limits landlords’ ability to evict tenants and allows renters to challenge rate increases. The local law passed 9-1, with one member abstaining.
Rent stabilization typically limits the amount that rent can go up every year—but a newly appointed rent guidelines board in Kingston, N.Y., took it a step further.
State office not properly enforcing rent rules, council members and advocates say
“These protections are protections that matter to upstate tenants. It's not just a New York City issue. It's not just a downstate issue. And so, we're really excited to work with our neighbors outside of the city to work on passing these protections that we all need,” said Sims.
Deputy Mayor Alexandria Wojcik, who was a major driver of the initial GCE bill in 2021, expressed support for these provisions, reasoning that the board wants to “protect more than less tenants.”
City under cloud of litigation from landlord group
“I’m proud to vote today to re-establish basic protections against price-gouging and displacement for tenants in the city of Newburgh,” Councilwoman Giselle Martinez said in a statement. “Good-cause eviction is an essential tool to level the playing field for tenants"
“As a tenant in Beacon, I’ve felt the squeeze as rents skyrocketed and saw too many of my neighbors pushed out of our community,” Niklas Moran, a member of Mid-Hudson Valley Democratic Socialists of America, said in a statement.
Progressives have successfully pushed a more than a dozen municipalities outside New York City to adopt tenant-friendly housing policies in recent years.
Two other Hudson Valley cities — Newburgh and Kingston — adopted rent stabilization and also had their vacancy rate studies challenged by landlords in court. Newburgh’s law was blocked in April, while Kingston’s rent stabilization law was upheld last year.
Language in the law signed by the governor extended an exemption to landlords renting out ten or more units, characterizing them as “small landlords.” The common council made the definition of a small landlord anyone with no more than one unit anywhere in New York State.
For tenants in the first upstate city to adopt rent stabilization, benefiting from the law’s basic protections is an uphill battle.
What are tenant organizers doing to make the law work better for their communities?
The Poughkeepsie Common Council unanimously voted to opt into Good Cause Eviction Protections on Tuesday night, becoming the third city to adopt the tenant protections following the passage of state authorizing legislation in April.
The Kingston Rent Guidelines Board voted 6-2 to continue a rent freeze for buildings regulated by the Emergency Tenant Protection Act
“This is such an exciting moment that we’ve been working towards for so long,” 40-year city resident Linda Bartee, an organizer with the tenant advocacy group Housing Justice for All, said in a statement. “My neighbors and I can rest a little easier in our homes tonight."
While Salazar and Hunter’s bill would have covered all tenants in the state, the version of “good cause” included in the final budget deal only applied to tenants in New York City. Other cities must explicitly opt in to the law in order to receive the same protections.
“The court’s decision to strike down Newburgh’s rent stabilization declaration, and the vacancy study that precipitated it, strips hundreds of tenants of hard-fought legal protections and threatens to make the city’s housing crisis worse,” said Daniel Atonna.
Seven city lawmakers had urged two state representatives to reject a final version of what they claimed was a weakened Good Cause Eviction law.
At issue is the concept of pre-emption. New York legal precedent won’t allow housing laws passed by local municipalities to contradict state housing laws. State law permits a landlord to seek eviction following the expiration of a tenant’s lease or following a tenant’s default on rent.
City and advocates hail victory, but landlords group vow a challenge if reductions are adopted
A group of 56 officials — including an Ulster County legislator, most Kingston lawmakers and three lawmakers from Dutchess County— are urging the state legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul to favor the proposed so-called Good Cause Eviction law.
Practically speaking, smaller cities have to go through sometimes complicated processes of local approval and even then, real estate interests could swing things against their favor.
Long considered more affordable than New York City, the Hudson Valley presents a stark example of how the nationwide housing crisis is squeezing renters.
"This started happening years ago," said Tina Cocianowski, who has lived at the complex since 2019. "But they did nothing about it until now on the coldest day of the year."
In a unanimous vote, the Orange County city declared a housing emergency to stabilize rents.
City Court Judge Rebecca Mensch has ruled that Beacon’s “good-cause” eviction law is unconstitutional, invalidating the fifth of five such laws to be adopted in New York state over the last two years.
“We don’t want our constituents to feel pessimistic about the actions they can take, we want them to be empowered”, said Sarahana Shrestha, “One action they can take will be provided under a new state law called the Tenant Dignity and Safe Housing Act, going into effect at the end of this month."
Newburgh residents are pressuring the city to move forward on rent control as they get priced out of their apartments.
In a flurry of legal action, the city of Kingston, the New York State Attorney General’s Office and legal intervenors filed briefs Thursday appealing an Ulster County Supreme Court decision that upheld rent control in Kingston but vacated rent reductions the Rent Guidelines Board set in 2022.
The Kingston Rent Guidelines Board voted to freeze rent prices on leases that go into effect between October 2023 and September 2024, pointing to the need to wait as lawsuits over previous guidelines play out and data from the state, including landlords’ expenses and reports, remains unavailable.
The Hudson Valley Property Owners Associated officially appealed Friday a state Supreme Court judge’s decision that denied the landlord group’s challenge questioning the city’s declaration of a housing emergency, which paved the way for rent control.
Mayor Steve Noble told Stony Run tenants on Monday that the recently approved workforce housing deal for the apartment complex will allow the owners to complete renovations, acknowledging that in a recent visit, the complex was “a mess.” (Note: These repairs did not occur)
Stony Run tenant union leader Teresa Green said "Here tonight before me are a group of officials who are mostly homeowners with gang mentality advocating for the tenants, and we are the tenants who are advocating on behalf of the tenants. This is an operating dictatorship.”
The Tenants Union released a statement following the meeting that said, “The Common Council should consider what tenants want, not just their landlords. We continue to oppose this regulatory agreement as written until tenants’ voices are heard.”
The Stony Run Tenants Union said in a new statement on Tuesday that it will oppose the proposed regulatory agreement between Mayor Steven Noble and Aker Co. on the grounds that it is illegal.
A good cause eviction law passed by Poughkeepsie in 2021 to protect tenants from exorbitant rent increases and unwarranted evictions has been invalidated by a city judge in the latest court defeat for a wave of city-level tenant protections in New York.
Poughkeepsie City Court Judge Frank M. Mora ruled in favor of Lakr Kaal Rock, LLC, against two tenants — an 87-year-old woman and a mother of a two-year-old — who sought to dismiss non-payment proceedings and reverse a rental increase under Poughkeepsie’s “good-cause” eviction law
In Kingston, New York, tenants say their survival depends on the city ordering a rent reduction – something that’s never been done before
In the leadup to the vote, several members of the tenants’ union said that they supported the agreement in theory, but due to what they have categorized as a lack of transparency, they have no ability to check what the agreement will stipulate for them as tenants.
Third Department judges sided with Albany landlords in finding that state property laws preempt and nullify the city’s 2021 good cause eviction protections. The ruling makes the need for similar protections at the state level more urgent, tenant advocates say.
Richard Lanzarone, who is executive director of the Hudson Valley Property Owners Association, said Thursday’s Third Department Appellate Division ruling upholding the state Supreme Court decision that the Albany Good Cause Eviction law is illegal should send a message to Kingston.
A plan has emerged to turn Stony Run at the Stockade apartments from market to workforce housing, according to Mayor Steve Noble. (Note: both the Mayor and the landlords thought this could remove rent stabilization from the property for newly vacated units)
The city can institute rent controls for tenants and landlords, denying challenges brought by property owners questioning the city’s declaration of a housing emergency, the state Supreme Court in Ulster County ruled on Friday.
Two tenant activist groups have filed a motion in state Supreme Court in Ulster County to defend a decision by the Kingston Rent Guidelines Board that would have forced landlords to reduce rents by 15%.
The law, which capped rent increases and laid out terms by which certain landlords could evict tenants, was enacted by the City Council last year in an attempt to enact eviction protections to prevent homelessness.
On Nov. 9, Kingston’s newly established Rent Guidelines Board did what New York City has never done in its more than 50 years of rent stabilization: It voted 6-3 to lower rents by 15% for tenants who sign or renew leases during the year that began Aug. 1.
A state Supreme Court justice in Ulster County ruled Friday that Kingston’s Rent Guidelines Board cannot order landlords to decrease rents by 15%, according to an attorney representing property owners.
Members of the city’s rent guidelines board ruled that tenants who sign one- or two-year leases between Aug. 1, 2022 and Sept. 30, 2023 for certain protected properties should have their rents reduced by 15%.
Lawmakers have cleared the way for rent control regulations to be enacted on city properties built prior to 1974 that have six or more units.
Under current New York State law, landlords are not required to offer new leases to market-rate tenants. That could soon change.
Landlords in the City of Beacon will no longer be able to increase a tenant’s rent by more than 5% without court approval, or choose to remove them from their apartment without cause.
“This legislation will help prevent displacement, reduce homelessness, and provide nearly 6,000 tenants in the city of Kingston with much-needed relief in the midst of this ongoing pandemic.” Alderwoman Michele Hirsch, D-Ward 9 said.
The city's Common Council voted unanimously last week to advance a stringent anti-eviction law to stem displacement in the rapidly gentrifying community of 5,900.
Good cause eviction is a key goal of the Housing Justice for All coalition, a group of tenant advocates working to enact new protections for renters.After victories in 2019 with new rent laws, the coalition now looks to 2022.
Despite people being unable to afford the high cost of rent, rents have been increasing rapidly, with a nationwide 9.4% increase since the start of the pandemic. Experts fear a dire eviction crisis is unfolding, and with the New York State eviction moratorium ending on Jan. 15.
As statewide tenant organizers announce their legislative agenda, another upstate city approved new tenant protections.
After a lengthy public hearing Monday night, the Newburgh City Council adopted a local law that restricts evictions in certain housing situations.
A community known for being eclectic, New Paltz needs to keep more young professionals in the area, [Deputy Mayor Alex] Wojcik said, and ‘Good Cause Eviction’ legislation would help accomplish that. Councils in Kingston and Poughkeepsie ... are considering similar measures.
Wojcik said New Paltz especially needs this local law. The Village of New Paltz, which includes SUNY New Paltz, has a higher rental turnover rate than the City of Albany, according to census data. “We have a very unstable population of renters,” said Wojcik.