Rent-stabilized property owners and landlords have been struggling to afford needed improvements and investments in their buildings. Because of the changes made by The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (HSTPA) to the financial programs of Major Capital Improvements (MCIs) and Individual Apartment Improvements (IAIs), the number of major capital projects like roof or boiler replacements or facade work has dropped dramatically in Westchester County because it often doesn’t make financial sense to lenders or owners to finance them. Just as bad, it has also become challenging to finance repairs for severely damaged apartments when a mid-to-long-term tenant moves out, to modernize and improve apartments for rent-stabilized tenants at comparable levels to market rate apartments, and to make the repairs that would make the apartment safe and appropriate for a new tenant or family.

After years of disincentives, only modest changes have been made to HSTPA’s draconian measures out of fear of raising rents further on rent-stabilized tenants. We need a solution that neither raises rents on existing tenants or costs taxpayers.

That solution is The Local Regulated Housing Restoration Adjustment Act (LRHRA). This policy aims to once again create incentives for much needed renovations in rent-stabilized housing relied upon by low- and middle-income, working families. It does so without either needed direct government subsidy or assistance, or increasing rents on existing rent-stabilized tenants by one cent.

Join BRI Government Affairs Directors Jason Hilliard as he walks you through the problem for rent-stabilized properties, the proposed solution, and answer your questions about the bill’s future in Albany.

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