Housing Notebook

• Topics of general interest to tenants, specifically the movement for rent controls and tenant protections in Massachusetts -

MASSACHUSETTS TENANTS CAMPAIGN FOR RENT CONTROL

In Massachusetts, a broad-based coalition of tenants and community groups is fighting to reinstate rent control and eviction protections, which were banned by a voter referendum in 1994. Scott Sommer was joined by Carolyn Chou of Homes for All Massachusetts to hear all about the crisis in housing and the campaign for sane housing policies.

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

• Carolyn Chou, Director, Homes for All Massachusetts -

• 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! X: @met_council, @scottmsommer, @wbai.org; wbai.org – live stream, find archive, join radio station there or call 212-209-2950 or go to give2wbai.org – become a WBAI buddy in the name of Housing Notebook!

• Met Council's uptown walk-in clinics are happening on alternate Tuesdays: November 21, December 5 and 19, at 5030 Broadway in Manhattan - arrive by 6 PM! Stay tuned for further dates; for more information, click here.

• Homes for all Massachusetts: homesforallmass.org/; for information about the Boston People's Assembly Saturday, December 2, 10am-2pm at First Parish Church in Dorchester, MA, 10 Parish Street, click here.

• Met Council on Housing Gala will take place Tuesday, December 5, 6-8:30pm at St.Peter's Church, 619 Lexington Avenue at 53rd Street in Manhattan; for more information, click here.

• Heat & hot water: Heat season begins October 1, and through May 31: from 6 am to 10 pm, if the outside temperature falls below 55 degrees, the inside temperature must be at least 68 degrees everywhere in your apartment. From 10 pm to 6 am in NYC: the inside temperature must be at least 62 degrees everywhere in your apartment regardless of the outside temperature. Hot water at a minimum 120 degrees at the tap must be provided 24 hours a day, year round. Go to portal.311.nyc.gov or call 311 to report lack of heat &/or hot water; outside NYC call dept. of health or buildings. Call hotline (212-979-0611) for help with organizing, to get a heat sheet, click here. For an explainer at thecity.nyc, click here.

• New rent guidelines for leases beginning between 10/1/23 & 9/30/24: in NYC, for apartments & lofts 3% for a 1-year lease, 2.75% for the 1st year of a 2-year lease & for the 2nd year, 3.25% of the amount lawfully charged in the first year, excluding any increases other than the first-year guideline increase; no increase for SROs, rooming houses, & hotels. Nassau County: ZERO and ZERO for 1- & 2-year leases for the Village of Hempstead, 1% & 2% for the rest of the county; Westchester county: 1% for 1 year, 2% for 2 years; Rockland County: 0.0% for 1 year, 0.50% for 2 years; Kingston: ZERO and ZERO for 1- & 2-year leases.