NY State Senate Bill 2025-S4659

Senate Bill S4659

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Relates to enacting the rent emergency stabilization for tenants act on local determinations of a housing emergency

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Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Housing, Construction And Community Development Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Feb 10, 2025	referred to housing, construction and community development

2025-S4659 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A4877
Current Committee:: Senate Housing, Construction And Community Development
Law Section:: Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974
Laws Affected:: Amd §§3 & 5, Emerg Ten Prot Act of 1974

2025-S4659 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to enacting the rent emergency stabilization for tenants act on local determinations of a housing emergency; authorizes a city with a population of one million or more to declare an emergency as to any class of housing accommodations if the vacancy rate for the housing accommodations in such class within such municipality is not in excess of five percent and a declaration of emergency may be made as to all housing accommodations if the vacancy rate for the housing accommodations within such municipality is not in excess of five percent; authorizes other cities, towns and villages to declare a housing emergency after considering publicly available data and holding public hearings.

2025-S4659 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S4659

SPONSOR: KAVANAGH
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the emergency tenant protection act of  nineteen  seven-
ty-four, in relation to enacting the rent emergency stabilization for
tenants act on local determinations of a housing emergency

 
PURPOSE:

This bill defines how a locality other than New York City may declare a
housing emergency in its jurisdiction for the purpose of adopting tenant
protections under the Emergency Tenant Protection Act (ETPA).

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1 establishes the short title for this act as the "rent emergen-
cy stabilization for tenants act."

Section 2 amends Section 3 of section 4 of chapter 576 of the laws of
1974 to provide that villages, towns, and cities other than the City of

New York may choose to determine a housing emergency using one of two
ways.

-- The municipality may, after considering publicly available data and
holding public hearings, declare a housing emergency based on (but not
limited to) factors that measure overall housing supply, vacancy rate
for housing accommodations, the availability of affordable and habitable
housing accommodations, rent burdens for tenants, or other measures of
housing affordability such as the local or regional homelessness rate
and the need for regulating rents in that locality.

-- In the alternative, the municipality may declare a housing emergency
based on a study of vacancy rates in rental housing, pursuant to a proc-
ess that is unchanged by this bill.

The manner in which the City of New York may declare a housing emergency
is also unchanged by this bill.

Section 2 also authorizes villages, towns, and cities other than the
City of New York to provide for rent stabilization in buildings with
fewer than six units if they choose.

Section 3 adds a new paragraph 5-b to subdivision a of section 5 of
section 4 of chapter 576 of the laws of 1974 to specify that in
villages, towns, and cities other than the City of. New York that
provide for rent regulation, buildings that were built or substantially
rehabilitated within the past 15 years, are exempt from regulation;
under the ETPA currently, buildings that were built or substantially
rehabilitated after January 1, 1974 are exempt, unless they are regu-
lated pursuant to another law or regulation.

Section 4 sets forth the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Rent stabilization in localities other than New York City is governed by
the Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974 (ETPA). Under the ETPA in
its original form, municipalities in Nassau, Rockland, and Westchester
counties may adopt rent stabilization if they declare a state of housing
emergency, defined as having a rental housing vacancy rate of less than
5%. The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (HSTPA)
amended the ETPA so that any municipality in the state may opt into rent
stabilization if it meets the emergency declaration criteria. According
to HCR's most recent data, 16 municipalities in Nassau, 2 in Rockland,
21 in Westchester, and 1 in Ulster (the City of Kingston) have adopted
rent stabilization.

The Rent Emergency Stabilization for Tenants Act (REST) recognizes that,
in addition to vacancy rate, publicly available data on a locality's
eviction rate, homeless shelter population, renters' housing cost
burdens, and other relevant indicators can also demonstrate a locality's
lack of housing availability, affordability, and stability. For example,
eviction filing data in each county is available and updated monthly on
the NYS Office of Court Administration's Statewide Landlord Tenant
Eviction Dashboard, and localities may have access to data on their
local homeless shelters.  These metrics can paint a fuller picture of a
locality's housing needs and can fulfill the ETPA's requirement that
localities may institute rent regulation only after declaring a housing
emergency.  At the same time, there may be localities that wish to
declare an emergency pursuant to the existing process, based on the
vacancy rate; this bill leaves that process unchanged.

REST also seeks to modernize the ETPA so that localities adopting rent
stabilization may do so in a way that makes sense for the here and now.
The ETPA in its current form extends rent stabilization to buildings
with six or more units, an easy threshold to reach in high-density New
York City where multifamily residential buildings are more common.
Recognizing that the mix of housing varies widely across the state, this
legislation would allow localities to set a lower building size thresh-
old for rent stabilization coverage if they choose. Finally, when the
ETPA was first passed in June 1974, the law brought into rent stabiliza-
tion all the eligible buildings that had been constructed at that point
- built on or before January 1, 1974.  This eligibility date has not
changed in over 50 years. More recently, when the legislature enacted
the Good Cause Eviction bill, it exempted all buildings built within the
last 15 years. This legislation would reflect the ETPA's original intent
of enabling localities, outside of New York City, to provide rent
stabilization protections to a substantial portion of their housing, not
just to buildings that are half a century old, by including buildings
constructed or substantially rehabilitated more than 15 years ago.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

This is a new bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR THE STATE:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2025-S4659 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4659
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 10, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sen. KAVANAGH -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Housing, Construction  and
   Community Development
 
 AN ACT to amend the emergency tenant protection act of  nineteen  seven-
   ty-four,  in relation to enacting the rent emergency stabilization for
   tenants act on local determinations of a housing emergency
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Short  title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
 the "rent emergency stabilization for tenants act".
   § 2. Section 3 of section 4 of  chapter  576  of  the  laws  of  1974,
 constituting  the  emergency  tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-
 four, subdivision a as amended by chapter 69 of the laws of 1980, subdi-
 visions d, f and g as added by chapter 698  of  the  laws  of  2023  and
 subdivision  e as amended by chapter 100 of the laws of 2024, is amended
 to read as follows:
   § 3. Local determination of emergency; end of emergency. a. The exist-
 ence of public emergency requiring the regulation of  residential  rents
 for all or any class or classes of housing accommodations, including any
 plot  or  parcel of land which had been rented prior to May first, nine-
 teen hundred fifty, for the purpose of permitting the tenant thereof  to
 construct or place [his] SUCH TENANT'S own dwelling thereon and on which
 plot  or  parcel of land there exists a dwelling owned and occupied by a
 tenant of such plot or parcel, heretofore  destabilized;  heretofore  or
 hereafter decontrolled, exempt, not subject to control, or exempted from
 regulation  and  control  under  the provisions of the emergency housing
 rent control law, the local emergency housing rent control  act  or  the
 New  York city rent stabilization law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine; or
 subject to stabilization or control under such rent  stabilization  law,
 shall  be  a  matter  for  local determination within each city, town or
 village. Any such determination shall be made by the  local  legislative
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD05109-03-5

 S. 4659                             2
 
 body of such city, town or village on the basis of the supply of housing
 accommodations  within such city, town or village, the condition of such
 accommodations and the need for regulating and  controlling  residential
 rents within such city, town or village.
   [A]  B.  FOR  A  CITY HAVING A POPULATION OF ONE MILLION OR MORE RESI-
 DENTS, A declaration of emergency may be made as to any class of housing
 accommodations if the vacancy rate for  the  housing  accommodations  in
 such class within such municipality is not in excess of five percent and
 a  declaration of emergency may be made as to all housing accommodations
 if the vacancy rate for the housing accommodations within  such  munici-
 pality is not in excess of five percent.
   [b.]  C. FOR A CITY HAVING A POPULATION OF LESS THAN ONE MILLION RESI-
 DENTS OR A TOWN OR VILLAGE, THE LOCAL LEGISLATIVE  BODY  MAY  DECLARE  A
 HOUSING  EMERGENCY THROUGH THE PROCESS DESCRIBED IN PARAGRAPH ONE OR TWO
 OF THIS SUBDIVISION.
   (1) THE LOCAL LEGISLATIVE BODY MAY DECLARE A HOUSING  EMERGENCY  AFTER
 CONSIDERING  PUBLICLY AVAILABLE DATA AND HOLDING PUBLIC HEARINGS. BEFORE
 DECLARING SUCH EMERGENCY, THE  LOCAL  LEGISLATIVE  BODY  SHALL  CONSIDER
 PUBLICLY  AVAILABLE DATA MEASURING OR ESTIMATING FACTORS SUCH AS:  OVER-
 ALL HOUSING SUPPLY, VACANCY RATE FOR HOUSING ACCOMMODATIONS, THE  AVAIL-
 ABILITY OF AFFORDABLE AND HABITABLE HOUSING ACCOMMODATIONS, RENT BURDENS
 FOR  TENANTS  OR  OTHER  MEASURES OF HOUSING AFFORDABILITY, THE LOCAL OR
 REGIONAL HOMELESSNESS RATE, AND THE NEED  FOR  REGULATING  RENTS  WITHIN
 SUCH CITY, TOWN OR VILLAGE.
   (2)  THE  LOCAL  LEGISLATIVE  BODY  MAY DECLARE AN EMERGENCY AS TO ANY
 CLASS OF HOUSING ACCOMMODATIONS IF THE VACANCY  RATE  FOR  SUCH  HOUSING
 ACCOMMODATIONS  IN  SUCH CLASS WITHIN SUCH MUNICIPALITY IS NOT IN EXCESS
 OF FIVE PERCENT AND A DECLARATION OF EMERGENCY MAY BE  MADE  AS  TO  ALL
 HOUSING  ACCOMMODATIONS  IF  THE  VACANCY  RATE FOR THE HOUSING ACCOMMO-
 DATIONS WITHIN SUCH  MUNICIPALITY IS NOT IN EXCESS OF FIVE PERCENT.
   (I) A MUNICIPALITY OR A DESIGNEE, AS PART OF A STUDY TO DETERMINE  ITS
 VACANCY  RATE,  OWNERS, OR THEIR AGENT, OF HOUSING ACCOMMODATIONS IN THE
 CLASS OF HOUSING  ACCOMMODATIONS  DETERMINED,  SHALL  PROVIDE  THE  MOST
 RECENT  RECORDS OF RENT ROLLS AND, IF AVAILABLE, RECORDS FOR THE PRECED-
 ING THIRTY-SIX MONTHS. SUCH RECORDS SHALL INCLUDE THE TENANT'S  RELEVANT
 INFORMATION  RELATING  TO  FINDING THE VACANCY RATE OF SUCH MUNICIPALITY
 INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE  NAME,  ADDRESS,  AND  AMOUNT  PAID  OR
 CHARGED  ON A WEEKLY, MONTHLY, OR ANNUAL BASIS FOR EACH OCCUPIED HOUSING
 ACCOMMODATION AND WHICH HOUSING ACCOMMODATIONS ARE VACANT AT THE TIME OF
 THE SURVEY AND AVAILABLE FOR RENT. SUCH RECORDS SHALL ALSO  INCLUDE  ANY
 HOUSING  ACCOMMODATIONS  THAT  ARE VACANT AND NOT AVAILABLE FOR RENT AND
 PROVIDE THE REASON WHY SUCH UNIT IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR RENT.
   (II) A MUNICIPALITY MAY IMPOSE A CIVIL PENALTY OR FEE OF  UP  TO  FIVE
 HUNDRED  DOLLARS ON AN OWNER OR THEIR AGENT IF SUCH OWNER OR THEIR AGENT
 REFUSES TO PARTICIPATE IN SUCH VACANCY SURVEY AND  COOPERATE  WITH  SUCH
 MUNICIPALITY  OR A DESIGNEE IN SUCH VACANCY SURVEY, OR SUBMITS KNOWINGLY
 AND INTENTIONALLY FALSE VACANCY INFORMATION.
   (III) A NONRESPONDENT OWNER SHALL BE DEEMED TO HAVE ZERO VACANCIES.
   (IV) IDENTIFYING DATA OR INFORMATION SHALL BE  KEPT  CONFIDENTIAL  AND
 SHALL  NOT BE SHARED, TRADED, GIVEN, OR SOLD TO ANY OTHER ENTITY FOR ANY
 PURPOSE OUTSIDE OF SUCH VACANCY STUDY.
   D. A CITY OF UNDER ONE MILLION RESIDENTS OR A TOWN OR VILLAGE MAY  ADD
 CLASSES  OF  ACCOMMODATION  TO  REGULATION  UNDER  THIS ACT IN BUILDINGS
 CONTAINING FEWER THAN SIX UNITS.
   E. The local governing body of a city, town or village having declared
 an emergency pursuant to subdivision a, B, OR C of this section  may  at
 S. 4659                             3
 
 any  time,  on  the basis of the supply of housing accommodations within
 such city, town or village, the condition of such accommodations and the
 need for continued regulation and control of  residential  rents  within
 such  municipality,  declare  that  the  emergency  is  either wholly or
 partially abated or that the regulation of rents pursuant  to  this  act
 does  not  serve  to abate such emergency and thereby remove one or more
 classes of accommodations from regulation under this act. [The emergency
 must be declared at an end once the vacancy rate described  in  subdivi-
 sion a of this section exceeds five percent.
   c.]  F.  No resolution declaring the existence or end of an emergency,
 as authorized by subdivisions a [and], b OR C of this  section,  may  be
 adopted  except  after  public  hearing  held  on not less than ten days
 public notice, as the local legislative body may reasonably provide.
   [d. When requested by a municipality or a designee, as  a  part  of  a
 study  to determine its vacancy rate, owners, or their agent, of housing
 accommodations in the class of housing accommodations determined,  shall
 provide the most recent records of rent rolls and, if available, records
 for  the  preceding  thirty-six  months.  Such records shall include the
 tenant's relevant information relating to finding the  vacancy  rate  of
 such  municipality  including  but not limited to the name, address, and
 amount paid or charged on a weekly, monthly, or annual  basis  for  each
 occupied  housing  accommodation  and  which  housing accommodations are
 vacant at the time of the survey and available for  rent.  Such  records
 shall  also  include  any housing accommodations that are vacant and not
 available for rent and provide the reason why such unit is not available
 for rent.
   e. A municipality may impose a civil penalty or  fee  of  up  to  five
 hundred  dollars  on an owner or their agent if the owner or their agent
 refuses to participate in such vacancy survey  and  cooperate  with  the
 municipality  or a designee in such vacancy survey, or submits knowingly
 and intentionally false vacancy information.
   f. A nonrespondent owner shall be deemed to have zero vacancies.
   g. Identifying data or information  shall  be  kept  confidential  and
 shall  not be shared, traded, given, or sold to any other entity for any
 purpose outside of such vacancy study.]
   § 3. Subdivision a of section 5 of section 4 of  chapter  576  of  the
 laws  of 1974, constituting the emergency tenant protection act of nine-
 teen  seventy-four, is amended by adding a new paragraph 5-b to read  as
 follows:
   (5-B)  HOUSING ACCOMMODATIONS LOCATED IN A CITY HAVING A POPULATION OF
 LESS THAN ONE MILLION RESIDENTS  OR  A  TOWN  OR  VILLAGE  IN  BUILDINGS
 COMPLETED OR BUILDINGS SUBSTANTIALLY REHABILITATED AS FAMILY UNITS WITH-
 IN THE PAST FIFTEEN YEARS.
   § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.

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