S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                   344

                       2015-2016 Regular Sessions

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                               (PREFILED)

                             January 7, 2015
                               ___________

Introduced  by  M.  of A. ROSENTHAL, GOTTFRIED, KAVANAGH, MOSLEY -- read
  once and referred to the Committee on Housing

AN ACT to amend the emergency tenant protection act of  nineteen  seven-
  ty-four,  in  relation  to  limited-profit housing companies and other
  buildings or structures which received project-based rental assistance

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section  1.    Legislative  findings and declaration of emergency. The
legislature hereby finds and declares that the serious public  emergency
which  led  to the enactment of the existing laws regulating residential
rents and evictions continues to exist;  that  such  laws  would  better
serve  the public interest if certain changes were made thereto, includ-
ing extending to certain cities, towns and  villages  the  authority  to
provide for the regulation of rents and evictions with regard to housing
accommodations  that  cease  or  have ceased to be regulated pursuant to
article 2 of the private housing finance law, known as the Mitchell-Lama
law, or pursuant to project-based section eight contracts  entered  into
with the federal government.
  The  legislature  further  recognizes  that  severe  disruption of the
rental housing market has occurred and threatens to be exacerbated as  a
result  of  the  abrupt termination of rent and eviction regulation when
buildings completed or substantially renovated as  family  units  on  or
after  January  first,  nineteen hundred seventy-four exit the Mitchell-
Lama program or when buildings cease  to  be  subject  to  project-based
section  eight  contracts.  The  situation had permitted speculative and
profiteering practices and has brought about the loss of vital and irre-
placeable affordable housing for working persons and families.
  The legislature therefore declares that in order to prevent uncertain-
ty, potential hardship and dislocation  of  tenants  living  in  housing
accommodations  subject  to  government  regulations  as  to rentals and

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                           LBD04008-01-5

A. 344                              2

continued occupancy as well as those not subject  to  such  regulations,
the  provisions  of this act are necessary to protect the public health,
safety and general welfare. The necessity in the public interest for the
provisions  hereinafter enacted is hereby declared as a matter of legis-
lative determination.
  S 2. Section 5 of section 4 of chapter 576 of the laws of 1974 consti-
tuting the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen  seventy-four  is
amended by adding a new subdivision c to read as follows:
  C.  NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER PROVISION OF THIS SECTION, NOTHING SHALL
PREVENT THE DECLARATION OF AN EMERGENCY PURSUANT  TO  SECTION  THREE  OF
THIS  ACT  FOR  RENTAL  HOUSING  ACCOMMODATIONS  LOCATED IN BUILDINGS OR
STRUCTURES WHICH WERE OWNED BY A COMPANY ESTABLISHED UNDER  ARTICLE  TWO
OF  THE  PRIVATE HOUSING FINANCE LAW, OTHER THAN A MUTUAL COMPANY, WHICH
ARE NO LONGER OWNED BY SUCH COMPANY BY REASON OF A VOLUNTARY DISSOLUTION
PURSUANT TO SECTION THIRTY-FIVE OF SUCH LAW OR FOR RENTAL HOUSING ACCOM-
MODATIONS LOCATED IN BUILDINGS OR STRUCTURES DEFINED AS COVERED PROJECTS
PURSUANT TO SECTION 8 OF THE UNITED STATES HOUSING ACT OF NINETEEN THIR-
TY-SEVEN, AS AMENDED, OR ANY  SUCCESSOR  STATUTE,  AND  ANY  REGULATIONS
PROMULGATED  THEREUNDER  IN WHICH RENTAL HOUSING ACCOMMODATIONS RECEIVED
PROJECT-BASED RENTAL ASSISTANCE FROM THE  UNITED  STATES  DEPARTMENT  OF
HOUSING  AND  URBAN DEVELOPMENT PURSUANT TO CONTRACTS WITH THE OWNERS OF
SUCH BUILDINGS OR STRUCTURES WHICH EXPIRED  OR  WERE  TERMINATED.    THE
INITIAL  LEGAL  REGULATED  RENT  FOR  HOUSING  ACCOMMODATIONS LOCATED IN
BUILDINGS OR STRUCTURES THAT WERE OWNED BY  HOUSING  COMPANIES  OR  THAT
WERE  COVERED  PROJECTS  PREVIOUSLY  REGULATED UNDER THE PRIVATE HOUSING
FINANCE LAW OR UNDER FEDERAL LAW, SHALL BE THE RENT CHARGED TO AND  PAID
BY  THE  TENANT IN OCCUPANCY ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY DAYS PRIOR TO THE EFFEC-
TIVE DATE OF A CHAPTER OF THE LAWS OF TWO THOUSAND FIFTEEN  WHICH  ADDED
THIS  SUBDIVISION  OR,  FOR ACCOMMODATIONS VACANT ON SUCH DATE, THE MOST
RECENT RENT CHARGED TO AND PAID BY A TENANT PRIOR TO SUCH DATE,  INCLUD-
ING  ANY INCOME-RELATED SURCHARGES, AS ADJUSTED BY ALL APPLICABLE GUIDE-
LINES INCREASES AND OTHER INCREASES AUTHORIZED BY LAW. THE PROVISIONS OF
SUBDIVISION A OF SECTION NINE OF THIS ACT OR OF SUBDIVISION A OF SECTION
26-513 OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE CODE OF THE CITY  OF  NEW  YORK  SHALL  NOT
APPLY  TO  ANY  HOUSING  ACCOMMODATION  WHICH BECAME SUBJECT TO THIS ACT
PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SUBDIVISION.
  S 3. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, in  a  city
having  a  population  of  one  million  or more, the New York city rent
stabilization law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine may be amended by local
law or ordinance to provide for the regulation of  rents  and  evictions
and  the enforcement of such rent stabilization law with regard to hous-
ing accommodations made subject to such law by a declaration of emergen-
cy made pursuant to this act.
  S 4. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to housing
accommodations located in  buildings  or  structures  owned  by  housing
companies  that  dissolved  on, before or after such date and to housing
accommodations in buildings or structures that were covered projects and
had contracts for rental assistance that expired or were terminated  on,
before  or after such date; provided that the amendments to section 5 of
the emergency tenant protection act of  nineteen  seventy-four  made  by
section  two  of  this  act  shall  expire  on the same date as such act
expires and shall not affect the expiration of such act as  provided  in
section 17 of chapter 576 of the laws of 1974.