Housing Notebook

• Topics of general interest to tenants, including a rally that took place in Albany on March 19, and a report from Housing Justice for All -

TENANT MOBILIZATION IN ALBANY

On March 19, tenants converged on Albany to demand that legislators protect and strengthen tenants' rights. Vajra Kilgour and Denis Ibarra spoke with Damien Andrade, a Sunset Park resident with Housing Justice for All, about the day and what tenants want.

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

• Damien Andrade, Sunset Park resident, Housing Justice for All -

• Met Council hotline: 212-979-0611, M & W 1:30-8 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 and downtown walk-in clinics in Manhattan are happening on Tuesdays, 6-8 pm: Downtown (Trinity Commons, 107 Greenwich St) April 2, April 16; Uptown (CUNY in the Heights, 5030 Broadway) March 26, April 9, April 23. Arrive by 6 PM! 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.

• 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.