Espada's Rent Freeze Would Warm Landlords' Hearts

In a move that may or may not distract voters from his role in the Senate coup and the ongoing investigation into his shady non-profit groups, State Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada will introduce a bill today that would freeze the rent for nearly 300,000 low- and moderate-income households in rent-subsidized apartments in all five boroughs. The program, if approved by the full Legislature, would be funded through landlords, not city or state funds, the AP reports. But the devil is in the details, and the bill is just as sweet, if not sweeter, for the property owners Espada has consistently gone to bat for.

Espada, the former Chair of the Senate Housing Committee, says the program would cost $77 million a year, which would be covered by letting landlords who want out of the rent-regulation program refund J-51 tax breaks from previous years. You may recall that these tax breaks were at the center of the Stuy Town tenant lawsuit that sunk Tishman Speyer—the state's highest court ruled that the property owner "wrongfully raised rents and deregulated thousands of apartments after receiving special tax breaks."

The rent-freeze proposal would compensate participating landlords with new tax exemptions in exchange for freezing rents for eligible tenants in rent-stabilized apartments who make under $45,000 a year and spend a third or more of their monthly wages on rent. When Espada first announced his scheme, Michael McKee, a spokesman for the Tenants Political Action Committee, told the Daily News, "I smell a rat here. I think this is probably designed to let Tishman Speyer and other landlords who have been illegally deregulating units off the hook."

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By John Del Signore in News on February 17, 2010 12:27 PM

Comments [rss]

Bubba

How about a freeze on legislation from the criminal Pedro Espada?

NannyState

I guess this means the check cleared.

Polemicist

Why make landlords subsidize the poor? And the corruption?

All forms of public assistance should be banned by federal law and a federal minimum income should be implemented.

Quidnam

You're actually right on target with this. Our patchwork of bullshit social programs creates more problems than it solves, especially compared to a truly progressive solution like a federal minimum income.

For example, this scheme from Espada would simply allow landlords to further fragment the real estate market and secure maximum rents on both the low and high ends. It would worsen the economic inefficiencies of the real estate "market" in NYC, which are already immense.

Of course, the trick would be actually getting a federal minimum income through Congress. As it stands, we are told that public policy solutions that are 1/1000th as significant are impossible.

devilducki

...and for the unemployed (currently 10.6% in NYC)?

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

actually it is really the corporation and the rich that are subsidized. Goldman Sachs

FJF

Beware state senators bearing gifts. Especially this conman.

theboneranger

also, "smell a rat"? just look at the man's face..

if thats not the face of a crook i don't know what is

theboneranger

pedro espada, english translation = peter sword

tha mang's got a goddang sword for a weiner

hunter.blatherer

But Peter means "rock." How effective is a rock sword? About as effective as the senator, I guess. And as sharp.

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

Michael McKee, Christine Quinn's crony, is right on this issue. Sounds like a bailout for landlords. let the market correct itself since rents are coming down especially now that the dollar is at a high against the Euro. Also Michael McKee is so corrupt, he endorsed Quinn even though 60% of her contributions were from Real estate interests. Mckee is a joke and most people know his tenant pac is just a front for Quinn and others as her.