From the Real Rent Reform Campaign and Met Council on Housing:
Occupy REBNY
(the Real Estate Board of New York)
outside its meeting at the
NY Hilton TONIGHT
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 6 PM
53rd St. and 6th Ave.
Protest REBNY - New York's biggest landlord lobbyist, which is calling for:
- further weakening our rent regulation laws
- millions in tax breaks for developers and landlords
Thursday, Jan 19, 2012 - NY Hilton Hotel - 6 p.m.
Meet at West 53reet Street & 6th Ave
Subway: B,D,E to 7th Ave, N,R,Q to 57th St,
F to 57th St., 1 to 50th Street
Tenants
are the 99%! And if any entity embodies what's wrong with the power of
the wealthiest 1%, it's the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) New
York's largest landlord and developer lobbyist group. This evening
they'll be schmoozing the city's and state's top politicians, asking
them to further weaken rent-regulations, and to renew of a $257 million
per year tax break for landlords. How powerful are these lobbyists? Gov.
Andrew Cuomo
snuck out for lunch with them last week, and tonight's event will be packed with New York's top
politicians and power brokers. Make sure they hear from tenants, too!
Join R3 (including our tenant association, Met Council on Housing, Tenants & Neighbors and 50 other groups) as we
protest for stronger rent laws and for better enforcement of our
existing tenant protections!
SPEAK OUT and FIGHT BACK
Rally at REBNY’s Annual Gala to tell them that the 99% will no longer subsidize the 1%
WHO: You, plus many other tenants and advocates for working families
WHAT: Protesting REBNY’s attacks on renting families, weak rent laws, and landlords’ outrageous demand for a quarter BILLION dollar tax break
WHERE: The NY Hilton Hotel, at 53rd St & 6th Ave.
WHEN: TONIGHT - Thursday, January 19th at 6:00 PM
OUR DEMANDS:
• No more massive tax breaks for the 1%! Don’t renew J-51!*
• End Vacancy Destabilization of Rent Regulated Apartments
• Pass MCI Reforms Now!
• Stop the Landlords “Preferential Rent” Scam!
___________
*J-51 is a tax break that landlords get for making improvements to their buildings - on top of federal credits and MCI rent increases. The good part of J-51 is that tenants in buildings that have them must stay rent regulated while the tax breaks last. (That will not end if J-51 is not renewed.) The bad part is that it is $257 million that the state needs to keep up other services.
Vacancy Destabilization occurs when a landlord "improves" a vacant, rent-regulated apartment and then claims that the improvements have raised the rent above $2000 (through June 2011) or $2500 (after June 2011) - enough to take the apartment out of rent regulation and charge whatever the market will bear. Because of this vacancy decontrol, thousands of apartments become permanently de-regulated every year, and most New Yorkers find the rents hard to pay.
MCI reforms include ending the rent increase for a Major Capital Improvement once the improvement has been paid for, and not permitting MCIs for building maintenance, like brickwork.
Preferential rent exists when the landlord (usually in the outer boroughs) has registered the regulated rent at one level, but charges a particular tenant a lower rent. That's not bad - unless the landlord then raises the rent back to the original higher rent with a Rent Guidelines increase with a new lease. The tenant who could afford the original rent then finds she can't afford the new one.
