Costs Threaten New York City Mayor’s Rent Plan

July 28, 2014 Rents have become increasingly unaffordable in New York City. NYC has been in a housing crisis for decades. A housing crisis, defined as under 5 percent vacancy rate, in NYC triggers an elaborate system of rent regulation. Rent regulation is not a subsidy program, but a system in which rents are regulated…

Over in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, a group of protestors led by the Alliance for Tenant Power recently staged a rally against 626 Flatbush Avenue, a luxury high-rise currently taking shape near Prospect Park. The event was held in part to protest the ever-controversial 421-a tax abatement program, which developer Hudson Companies falls under. According to Gothamist,…

Deadline looms for Urban American and City Investment Fund to recapitalize or break up package March 05, 2014 04:58PM By Adam Pincus An affiliate of the property giant Brookfield Properties is the leading bidder to buy a large stake as part of a refinancing of a $1 billion apartment portfolio in Upper Manhattan and Roosevelt…

Families, minorities pushed out by waves of tenants who can pay more. June 25, 2014 By Solvej Schou For renters’ rights advocate Jean Folkes, the fight to maintain stabilized rents in increasingly pricey New York City—where rents average a massive $3,000 a month—is not only political but personal. The Brooklyn tenant has spent months passionately…

Tenant activists are taking aim at one Democratic state senator for his close ties to the city’s real estate industry. Alliance for Tenant Power, a liberal pro-tenants organization, is planning a series of tweets and Facebook memes blasting State Senator Jeffrey Klein, a Bronx Democrat and leader of the Independence Democratic Conference. The group is…