Tonight at midnight, New York’s rent laws expire. We have to act now.

Dear Dan,

Tonight at midnight, New York’s rent laws expire.

An estimated 2.5 million New Yorkers depend on the rent regulations to keep their housing costs stable in an unstable economy. But even if the current law is renewed, it’s not enough. We need to strengthen the law and end the “vacancy decontrol” giveaways to the Big Landlords.

Legislators are scrambling over the next few days trying to put the new law in place. Governor Cuomo is leading the fight, and has said he will not let the legislature adjourn until they do so. We applaud his leadership.

But the Republican-led state senate is standing in the way. They’ve been bought and paid for by the landlords lobbying association, the “Rent Stabilization Association.” Ironic name. They’re not interested in stabilizing anything other than their profit margins.

It’s bad enough when you’re an upstate Republican who is willing to meddle in New York City’s housing laws in exchange for contributions from the Big Landlords. But it’s even worse to sign onto the Big Landlords’ reckless anti-tenant agenda when you represent one of the five boroughs.

That’s why State Senator Marty Golden is so important.

Golden has gotten contributions from the RSA. However, he has 37,900 rent regulated units in his Brooklyn district. That’s about 95,000 tenants who will be put at risk in his very own district if the RSA gets its way.

The RSA’s president was caught on video saying he “emptied our piggy bank” to keep the Republicans in power and in line with their agenda.

Please, tell Marty Golden that the only agenda that should matter to him is his own constituents. Ask him to stand up to the RSA and to end the loopholes:

To make sure Marty Golden knows we're counting on him to stand up for his constituents, we want to gather signatures from thousands of New Yorkers .

We’ll be watching where each state senator and assembly member falls in this fight. Whether they’re with us and the tenants or with the Big Landlords and lobbyists. And we’ll remember come election time.

Thanks for all you do,

Bill Lipton
Deputy Director, WFP