Senator Espaillat: We Cannot 'Punt' on Tenants' Rights

State Senator Adriano Espaillat said "To keep the current rent laws in place would be a complete failure on the part of our state government to protect tenants. A straight extender of any kind, such as the one proposed by the Senate Republicans, will mean a massive loss in affordable housing and will leave tenants vulnerable to harassment and unfair rent increases. These laws favor landlords in a city where scores of middle and working class tenants are being priced out daily. To protect tenants and affordable housing for future tenants; we must end vacancy decontrol, limit the cost to tenants for Major Capital Improvements (MCI), and stop allowing landlords to hike the rent by 20 percent simply because an apartment becomes vacant. The time to act is now, not six months from now, not a year from now and certainly not eight years from now."