Budget Talks Continue in Albany, Hundreds Rally in Bushwick for Passage of Rent Laws

Paid family Leave and a $15/hour minimum wage have been among the most widely advocated measures to date in the Capitol; beginning with Governor Cuomo’s State of the State Address in January. Senator Dilan and colleagues have long contended that full-time employment doesn’t begin to pay off the daily expenses and necessities of working New Yorkers. It is for that reason paid family leave is so important.

Everyone has to take time off at some point. And in today’s economy, any day without pay cuts deeply; especially for parents and those with family members in their care. These are all issues of critical importance to New Yorkers, especially north Brooklyn communities. It was issue like these, and many others, that community groups throughout Brooklyn met with Senator Dilan about.

Today, while Senator Dilan calls for full funding of the Tenant Protection Unit in the final budget, hundreds marched in Bushwick calling for better tenant protections and stronger rent laws to preserve affordable housing. They gathered to call for the passage of laws like the Senator Dilan co-sponsored Tenant Protection Act of 2015. A comprehensive measure that will close the statutory vacancy bonus loophole, repeal vacancy deregulation,  offer rent control relief, make capital improvement rent increases temporary surcharges, and end the practice of raising rents after making alleged “improvements.”

It’s legislation like Senator Dilan’s bill to charge landlords who destroy units and utilities to force regulated tenants out with a felony, or criminalizing rent descrimination based on income, that put the teeth back in our state’s tenant protections. It’s these bills, and a host of others that Senator Dilan either carries or co-sponsors in the Senate, that tenants want passed in Albany.