CWA 1180 - Political Action

Rent law renewal requires grassroots effort
January 2003

"My 26-year-old daughter is having a problem finding a place to live," explained Helena Crump. Crump is an 1180 shop steward in the Human Resources Administration, and her story is all too typical. "She lives with me, but she is grown and needs her own space. But she can't afford it. She works and has a daughter to provide for, including the childcare she has to pay. So, where can a hard worker who's not getting a raise in pay afford the high cost of housing?"

There is a housing crisis in New York City, and it affects 1180 members and millions of others in a myriad of ways. Young people, like Crump's daughter, can't find a place to live. Parents find themselves proving for grown children far longer than they had anticipated. Families are trapped in apartments because they cannot afford to move. Some are doubled up with friends or relatives. Others are homeless.

Rent regulation laws are the best way to control an out-of-control real estate market that makes it near impossible for working families to live in New York City. Current rent regulation is the only thing standing between us and losing what is left of affordable housing in the city. These laws expire this year and there is no more urgent political task for 1180 members than to make sure they are renewed without being weakened.

Rent regulation is governed by both city and state laws. Both expire this year and must be renewed. City regulations expire April 1, 2003, and state regulations expire June 16, 2003. In the past, landlords have used the renewal of rent laws as an opportunity to weaken the laws. In fact, weakening amendments passed in 1994 to the city law and in 1997 to the state law have already severely eroded the stock of affordable housing. It is estimated that the city has lost 140,000 units of rent-regulated housing in the last decade, mostly through vacancy decontrol.

Tenant advocates and unions are gearing up for a major fight in Albany and at City Hall. The tougher fight will be upstate, where Governor Pataki and the State Senate leadership have proven themselves to be hostile to tenant needs. It will take a sustained grassroots effort to win rent law renewal without weakening amendments. We will need to send letters to legislators, lobby in Albany and march in the streets in order to win.

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