Housing Notebook

• Issues of general interest to tenants, plus the recent addition of Kingston, NY, to the list of places covered by rent stabilization -

KINGSTON, NY ENACTS RENT AND EVICTION PROTECTIONS!

Last week Kingston, New York became the first city north of Rockland County to declare a housing emergency pursuant to the Emergency Tenant Protection Act (ETPA), enacting rent regulation and eviction protections for a significant portion of its rental housing stock. Scott Sommer talked with Kingston Alderwoman Michele Hirsch and Citizen Action of New York Organizer Tyler Vanderhaag about this historic event; listener call-ins.

Housing Notebook is a production of the Metropolitan Council on Housing, New York's oldest tenant union.

• Kingston Alderwoman Michele Hirsch; Tyler Vanderhaag, Citizen Action of New York Hudson Valley Organizer -

• Met Council hotline: 212-979-0611, M & W 1:30-8 PM, Tu 5:30-8 PM, F 1:30-5 PM; www.metcouncilonhousing.org, thetenant.org; info@metcouncilonhousing.org; Facebook & Instagram: search for Met Council on Housing; email: housingnotebook@wbai.org – no housing problems please! Twitter: @met_council, @scottmsommer, @wbai.org; wbai.org – live stream, find archive, join radio station there or call 212-209-2950 – become a WBAI buddy in the name of Housing Notebook!

• Tenants' rights outdoor summer clinic: Thursday August 25 , 5:30-8 PM - please arrive by 5:30 to sign up. Rain date: Saturday August 27, noon-3 PM. Location: Cooper Triangle Park, between 6th & 7th Streets & Third & Fourth Avenues in Manhattan.

• To find a cooling center, click here or call 311.

•  Primaries for state senate and Congressional races wll be Tuesday August 23; early voting 8/13-8. For voting info in NYC, click here or call 1-866-Vote-NYC (1-866-868-3692); for voting info in the rest of NY State, click here or call 1-800-367-8683.

• New rent guidelines set by the Rent Guidelines Board, for leases beginning between 10/1/22 & 9/30/23: for apartments & lofts 3.25% for a 1-year lease, 5% for a 2-year lease; no increase for SROs, rooming houses, & hotels. Nassau county: 2% for 1 year, 3.5% for 2 years. Westchester County: 2% for 1 year, 3% for 2 years. Rockland County: 0.5% for 1 year, 0.75 for 2 years.

• Rent guidelines for leases beginning between 10/1/21 & 9/30/22: in NYC for apartments & lofts: for a 1-year lease, 0% in the first 6 months & 1.5% in the following 6 months; for a 2-year lease, 2.5%. No increase for SROs, rooming houses, & hotels. Rockland County: 0.5% for a 1-year lease, 0.75% for a 2-year lease. Westchester County: 0.5% for a 1-year lease, 1% for a 2-year lease. Nassau County: 1% for a 1-year lease, 2% for a 2-year lease.