It would be very foolish to ignore the likelihood that he will try to reward them further by slashing away at rent regulations. This law is a relic of Gov. Nelson Rockefeller's 1971-1974 vacancy decontrol, which deregulated 400,000 affordable units in three years and set off the housing and homeless crisis we have seen ever since. While general vacancy decontrol was rescinded in 1974, the Urstadt Law remains in effect. Urstadt is named after Charles Urstadt, a major real-estate player who was Rockefeller's housing commissioner and is Gov. Pataki's close advisor. The Council must throw off the presumption that the city is a colony of Albany, and demand that the state legislature repeal the Urstadt Law.
Vacancy increases needlessly inflate rents and give owners incentives to displace existing tenants.
And under both rent control and rent stabilization, owners are already more than compensated for all costs, including the brief interruption in income and minor maintenance between tenancies. If approval is withheld, that will add fuel to the movement to repeal the Urstadt Law. It makes no sense to destroy the supply of apartments affordable to this group. Like abolishing vacancy increases, eliminating high-rent deregulation would also be restricted by the Urstadt Law. Increase code enforcement to preserve existing housing and remedy hazardous conditions that endanger thousands of families.