A coalition of tenants”™ rights advocacy groups is seeking to have Ulster County”™s new rent control board lower the rents for residents within Kingston.
According to a Times Union report, the rent control board is in charge of setting rent adjustments, but there has been no precedent for having the board order the lowering of rents. However, the Kingston effort to lower rents is being spearheaded by the nonprofit For the Many, which has been joined in its effort by Citizen Action of New York and the Mid-Hudson Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.
“We”™re asking (the board) members to adopt a historic rent reduction, the first of its kind in the state,” said For the Many Communications Lead Aaron Narraph Fernando. “This would help the residents of nearly 1,300 newly rent-stabilized units afford to live in Kingston and stay in their homes. Greedy landlords can”™t be allowed to continue pricing us out ”“ it”™s essential that when the nine (rent control board) members vote next month, they vote to ”˜Reduce Kingston”™s Rents.”™”
The board”™s authority is limited to rents in buildings with six or more units built before 1974, which would cover 64 Kingston buildings encompassing 1,300 units; Kingston”™s vacancy rate is 1.5%. The advocacy groups did not suggest how much of a rent decrease should be enacted.
The board will hold a public hearing on Oct. 25 at 6:00 p.m. at Kingston City Hall and is expected to make a decision during a meeting on either Nov. 5 or Nov. 14.
